Brief description of the activity and the Organization's role

The Regional Tourism Development Project (WiSATA) 2009 - 2013 covers the island of Flores, which is part of the Indonesian province of East Nusa Tenggara (NTT).

The main activities focus on development of local destination management organizations with two major entry points to Flores: Labuan Bajo and Maumere. For regional Flores destination promotion, the project will focus on Bali as the tourism gateway to the island. Direct beneficiaries of the project are about 5000 people working in the tourism industry. The tourism sector consists of a number of sub-sectors such as tour operators, hotels and restaurants, dive operators, guides, and transportation providers. The large majority of these businesses are micro and small enterprises. Direct beneficiaries are also the local governments in the different districts of Flores, as well as the national government which is represented by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. The project is financed by the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) under an MoU with the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economics.

BICG founder Christian Fritz has been working as a full time consultant for the project as an advisor on destination development and marketing. BICG Expert Paola Cannucciari has been working as a part time consultant as an advisor on waste management.