GSTC Professional Training Certificate in Sustainable Tourism to Support Sustainable Tourism Destinations
Writer: Yana Kinasih | Tourism Programme Officer
In the context of the Program Sustainable Tourism Destination Standard and Training-Pilot Project, TanaMori, Labuan Bajo, supported by IA-CEPA ECP KATALIS; the activity of the Professional Certificate Training in Sustainable Tourism GSTC is implemented as part of the implementation of the program.
IA-CEPA ECP KATALIS is a government-supported trade and investment development program to unlock the great potential of an economic partnership between Indonesia and Australia. KATALIS complements the existing Australian Government development program with a commercially oriented bilateral approach and places gender equality and social inclusion (GESI) at its core.
KATALIS provides funding support for the Sustainable Tourism Destination Development (STD) program in TanaMori, Manggarai Barat Regency, East Nusa Tenggara Province (NTT), Indonesia. The beneficiary of the program is PT Flores Prosperindo (FP), one of the real estate developers in Indonesia that focuses on the development of tourism destinations on Flores Island, TanaMori. The main objective of this program is to support TanaMori to prepare to become a sustainable tourism destination by using the GSTC destination criteria standard as a guideline. The program is implemented by PwC (PT PricewaterhouseCoopers Indonesia) as the lead firm in collaboration with DESMA Center, HIS (Hotel Investment Strategies, LLC), and ICMS (International College of Management Sydney).
The support from KATALIS for this program has been implemented for a wide range of activities, one of which is training needs analysis, a training plan, and initial training for GSTC Destination Criteria at the development site. Before the training is carried out, there are initial activities for the consultancy team, Flores Prosperindo, the developer team, and the stakeholder groups involved in the steering committee to gain a better and more in-depth understanding of the GSTC Destination Criteria.
The Professional Certificate Training in Sustainable Tourism of GSTC is designed to: 1) gain in-depth knowledge of the GSTC Criteria, the global standard for sustainability in travel and tourism; 2) make informed decisions on how to implement sustainability practices for companies and destinations; and 3) prepare to develop sustainable tourism policies and practices that are appropriate and traceable for organizations.
The training of Professional Certificate in Sustainable Tourism GSTC was undertaken virtually six times between 7 February and 23 February 2023. During the training sessions, participants discussed in depth the GSTC Destination Criteria as well as applications through various case studies and possible implementations at TanaMori. This training is a first step for the team of consultants, steering committees, and beneficiaries towards improving the capacity that will involve broader stakeholders in Labuan Bajo, West Manggarai Regency, East Nusa Tenggara.
