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EU funds acceleration of Flores tourism through entrepreneurship
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Upbeat – Tourism foundation Yayasan Indecon Indonesia director Ary S.Suhandi (right) hands over a book on Waerebo customary village published by the foundation to the Tourism Ministry’s assistant for cultural tourism destination development, Lokot Ahmad Enda, during the launch of the EU-funded Created project in West Flores, East Nusa Tenggara, on Thursday. (thejakartapost.com/Markus Makur)
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span style="letter-spacing: 0.1px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">A newly launched EU project is set to explore the creative economy potential of Flores, East Nusa Tenggara, with the eventual aim of developing tourism on the island.
The head of cooperation at the Delegation of the EU to Indonesia, Franck Viault, praised the enthusiasm of tourism players in Flores to fully engage with the Creative Entrepreneurship for Accelerating Tourism and Local Economic Development (Created) program.
“We hope we can see results of the initiative and continue to strengthen our partnership through the Created project, especially to increase both the capacity and knowledge of local communities to increase added value from the tourism sector,” Viault said of the launch of the project last Thursday.
“We also hope that success stories and experience obtained by local communities from the Created project can be benefited by other areas in Flores, East Nusa Tenggara,” he added.
Flores is blessed with abundant nature tourism potential; the waters on the western side of the island are one of the richest sea creature habitats in the world, while the island itself is the natural habitat of the endangered Komodo dragon and various endemic bird species.
The EU-funded Created program aims to harmonize Flores tourism sector growth and various local economic activities based on food and handicrafts. It is hoped that through the program, local communities can participate more actively in the development of the local economy in Flores.
The Created program will be implemented over three and a half years by tourism foundation Yayasan Ekowisata Indonesia (Indecon), together with environment foundations Yayasan Benih Matahari (Bima) and Yayasan Lingkungan Hidup Seloliman (YLHS). Local communities in East Nusa Tenggara will also be involved in the progam.
Under the Created program, tourism development in Flores will be accelerated through improvement of competitiveness of products from local communities, allowing them to contribute to sustainable economic growth and job creation to reduce poverty. Under the program, dialogue among parties in economic planning and monitoring activities will be improved.
The Created project is supported by a financing scheme via the Civil Society and Local Authorities in Development (CSO-LA) from the EU. It will continue achievements from the Innovative Indigenous Flores Ecotourism for Sustainable Trade (Infest) project.
The Created project will be implemented in three areas of western Flores: Mbeliling in West Manggarai regency, Ruteng in Manggarai regency and Inerie in Ngada regency
The Tourism Ministry’s assistant for cultural tourism destination development, Lokot Ahmad Enda, praised the initiative and said the program was in line with the ministry’s focus to accelerate tourism development in Flores.
“We will continue to support tourism development in Flores. We are waiting for active collaborations with all parties in Flores. We are also committed to working together with the Created project and local administrations in Flores,” said Lokot.
The head of the Ngada Transportation, Tourism, Communication and Information Agency, Sidhu Paulus, said it was hoped that local communities would benefit from the tourism sector in Flores.
Sidhu said he believed that Infest and Created projects shared a similar vision. Therefore, it was expected that the partnership could be expanded not only in Jerebu’u but also in other areas such as Bajawa and Wolobobo.
“We hope the tourism project can bring benefits to the local people, increasing their economic revenue and prosperity,” he said.
Tourism in Flores has continuously recorded significant growth, data show. As tourist visits grow by around 11 percent per year, tourism is touted as one of the most booming sectors in Flores.
In 2012, Flores was named a national priority tourism destinations by the President.
The West Manggarai administration’s economic development assistant, Martinus Ban, said the Created project was very coherent with the administration’s vision, especially on the development of agrotourism.
“We know Labuan Bajo, in particular, can play an important role in distributing benefits from the tourism sector [...],” said Martinus.
“We will develop agriculture intensification clusters to respond to tourism demand,” he added. (ebf)
