Changing an image through sports events: Palembang’s success story

Abstract Hosting an international sports event is seen by many governments as an opportunity to promote a variety of issues and agendas such as inculcating a feeling of pride among the citizens of the host city and country, boosting development or conveying a positive image of the host to a large international audience. This is especially true in the local context of the host city where the event takes place. Drawing from the results of ethnographic fieldwork, this paper examines the Indonesian city of Palembang as a repeated host of international sports events and how these events create an image and narrative of success with regard to the city. The focus lies on change of image as Palembang formerly had a negative reputation. The time frame includes the 2011 SEA Games, the 2013 Islamic Solidarity Games and the upcoming 2018 Asian Games. Furthermore, the narrative of success can be perceived as a starting point to shed light on Palembang’s potential for city marketing and promotion using sport as an urban event to attract visitors and investors. One salient promotion strategy is to link different events taking place in Palembang to the image of the city as a ‘sport city’.