INFEST: Innovative Indigenous Flores Ecotourism for Sustainable Trade – Local Economic Development
Tourism in Flores was developed primarily based on its two main attractions: Komodo National Park and Kelimutu National Park. Thus, facilities and mobility of tourists were concentrated on its urban centres (i.e. Labuan Bajo, Ende, Maumere) and along the connecting roads. An imaginary tourism corridor was formed connecting these attractions and their supporting facilities. Along and beyond this corridor, lie many traditional villages and other attractions, waiting to be discovered. Unfortunately, they were not able to take part in this development; due to lack of capacities, lack of tourism products to be offered, and lack of accessibility.
Innovative Indigenous Flores Ecotourism for Sustainable Trade (INFEST) project is a 3-year project managed by Indecon together with its partners. It aimed to enhance the capacity of local communities to deliver high quality tourism products and services, as well as to better plan the future development of their villages. Indecon worked together with local communities in more than 5 selected villages, including Waerebo, Tado, Tololela, and Liang Ndara.
Project Component
- Project component included:
Capacity building on local ecotourism guiding services; - Development of high quality ecotourism products in target villages;
- Development of pricing and joint marketing strategies;
- Establishment of tourism organizations and its administration system in participating target villages;
- Development of village tourism plan aimed at fostering the implementation of CSR and nationwide pro-poor economic development program.
Donor & Partners
INFEST project is co-financed by European Union through Non-State Actors and Local Authorities in Development (NSA-LA) program. This project is a joint collaboration of the Indonesian Ecotourism Network (Indecon) Foundation, Benih Matahari Foundation and Asosiasi Pekerja Pariwisata Indonesia (ASPPI).
Output
The Outputs achieved included:
Key tangible results and impacts achieved are:
- Established and strengthened 7 village tourism organization (Liang Ndara, Cunca Wulang, Tado, Waerebo, Tololela, Gurusina, Nage);
- Ecotourism guiding and product development, with 34 people obtainied national certification on ecotourism guide;
- More than 10 new ecotourism products in the 5 participating villages as well as 5 tour packages in Flores have been offered to tourism markets;
- Village tourism plan in the 5 target villages to pave their way to sustainability;
- Means of marketing, including 2.000 brochures, 7 audio videos, 1 website and integrated social media are developed and disseminated
Location
The project was implemented in 5 village areas [Cunca Wulang, Liang Ndara, Tado, Waerebo, Jerebu’u) and cities in Flores Island (Labuan Bajo and Bajawa)
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