‘GSTC Emerging Destinations Workshop’ and ‘ASEAN Sustainable Tourism Policy Workshop’ were Held in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, 2-3 Nov 2017
The Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC) together with its Indonesian training partner, INDECON, conducted a two-day workshop (2-3 November 2017) in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, focusing on applying the GSTC Criteria in Emerging Destinations.
The development of new, “emerging” destinations provides many vital benefits to a nation’s tourism by spreading the revenue to more communities and households, providing authentic and enjoyable experiences to visitors, and potentially mitigating over-crowding at popular mature destinations.
The workshop brought 90 participants, mostly Indonesians, with participants and speakers coming from other 8 countries, throughout Asia, and even Europe. Participants were managers, promoters, and leading stakeholders at emerging tourism destinations from Indonesia and throughout ASEAN countries, and beyond, plus practitioners from NGOs and national public agencies engaged in tourism development including infrastructure and human resources development. Tour operators that include emerging destinations in their itineraries attended as well.
The workshop was mainly supported by the Indonesian Ministry of Tourism, a GSTC member that has been using the GSTC framework to develop the Sustainable Tourism Destination Standard for Indonesia (STD). Other supporters included Swisscontact, WWF Indonesia, The Nature Conservancy Indonesia, CBI Netherlands, and GSTC member Khiri Travel and Khiri Reach.
Prior to the workshop, the International Conference on Sustainable Tourism (31 October – 1 November) conducted by the Indonesian Ministry of Tourism took place, where Mr. Randy Durband, GSTC CEO, gave a keynote speech on « Local Content in Sustainable Tourism Destination Standard ».
The program of the workshop consisted of a series of presentations and training sessions with an interactive, participatory workshop format where destination managers, their supporters, and policy-makers reviewed good practices currently applied in managing emerging destinations sustainably; including how to engage and motivate local stakeholders for continuous improvement, and apply the GSTC Destination Criteria.
In addition to the Emerging Destinations Workshop, an ASEAN Sustainable Tourism Policy Workshop was conducted by GSTC in partnership with Indonesia Ministry of Tourism, and sponsorship by CIFAL/UNITAR Training Centre, Jeju, Republic of Korea.
The ASEAN Sustainable Tourism Policy Workshop was designed for tourism policy-makers in governmental organizations. It gave practical knowledge of the GSTC Criteria for destinations and assisted in further development of good policy and implementation for sustainable tourism and destination management.
As with previous GSTC events, sustainable-events practices were carried out, such as reducing paper and plastic usage to a minimum: brochures were provided through pdf files, no plastic bottles were used during the conference, vegetarian food was available, and no beef was served.
The TANIPA naturally dyed key-chain that was given to you at registration supported the Tololela village in Flores – East Nusa Tenggara.
Presentations from the Workshop can be accessed here.
Photos can be found on GSTC Facebook page: First Day (Nov 2), Second Day (Nov 3), ASEAN S.T. Policy Session | #GSTCEmrgDest on Facebook
For important updates and future opportunities, sign up for GSTC monthly newsletter.
