The Government of Indonesia (GoI) recognizes that expansion of tourism industry can provide important stimulus for socio-economic development, bringing welfare and happiness to key regions around the archipelago whilst also protecting and conserving cultural and natural heritage. Tourism already contributed over 9% to total GDP and created one out of 11 jobs. The GoI is dedicated to develop tourism further, with a target of 20 million international visitors’ arrivals by 2019, a near doubling in 5 years from 2014.
The Ministry of Tourism (MoT) emphasizes the need to develop tourism sustainably. Further tourism development would need to increase tourism’s contribution to (local) economic development, community’s welfare, sociocultural values, environment protection and conservation of cultural and natural heritage. MoT therefore initiated its sustainable tourism development programme, including a pilot form 2016 with sustainable tourism destination development in 20 (twenty) pilot regencies/cities across the country, from Sabang in the west and Biak Numfor in the east. In parallel, MoT is also working on sustainable tourism certification as well as establishing assessment capacity through sustainable tourism observatories.
In parallel, the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) implements a national Resource Efficient and Cleaner Production (RECP) programme with funding support from the Government of Switzerland, in partnership with the Ministry of Environment and Forestry (MoEF) and Ministry of Industry (MoI). The programme activities are delivered through national implementing partners, in particular the Indonesian Cleaner Production Centre (ICPC), Centre for Resource Efficient and Cleaner Production Indonesia (CRECPI), the Centre for Assessment and Development of Green Industry and Environment (CADGIE) and the Centre for Textiles Bandung (CTB).
RECP programme is concerned with efficient use of materials, energy and water, reduction of waste, waste water and emissions, and improving employee, community and consumer health and well-being, through the application of preventive environmental strategies in manufacturing and services sectors. RECP has been successfully tried in hotels and tourism enterprises globally, and indeed is a pillar for sustainable tourism development, contributing in particular to the sustainable tourism aims of Resource Efficiency, Environment Purity, and Economic Viability.
Under the RECP programme, UNIDO supports MoT in the implementation of the sustainable tourism destination pilots, in particular in Sleman and Magelang (started Q1, 2016) and Lake Toba (starting from Q4, 2016). UNIDO already delivered training for national experts which have now started with 18 (eighteen) tourism enterprises as pilot companies, which include hotels, restaurants, and tourism villages.
