Potentials and Sustainability Index of Small-Scale Sports Tourism in Batu City

Abstract

The present study aims at investigating the menaces towards tourism sustainability in Kota Wisata Batu (KWB – Batu city as an icon of tourism). The menaces took place due to the hotel constructions in the city that experienced an increase over the last four years. However, the resorts enlargement was not in line with the increasing number of visitors in the city. In addition to the issue of physical constructions, the city also suffered from natural environment and social matters along with the growth of tourism activities. Agropolitan-based tourism has not so far been able to sustain the balance of economic, environmental, and social demands, so it is necessary to design alternative attempts to maintain the tourism activities in KWB. The model of tourism in small scale with a basis of sports is believed to be able to handle the aforementioned problems. Small-scale sports tourism is potential to overcome the demands of social welfare as well as to protect the environment during tourism activities. Thus, the present study aims at conducting an observation on the potentials of small-scale sports tourism in KWB and performing assessment on the sustainability of the sports tourism. The study carried out mixed method of research with inductive theoretical direction. The results of the study indicate that the potential of small-scale sports tourism is present at tourist destinations that explore natural resources, cultures, and something artificial. The sustainability index gained from the study is 29.81154 that is still under the category of less sustainable. The condition is due to the low assessment of economic, social, and environmental aspects of sustainability. Therefore, there should be alteration in the management of small-scale sports tourism in Batu city in order to make the natural, cultural and artificial tourism destinations economic-, social-,and cultural-friendly.