The Empowerment of the indigenous Papuans and the preservation of their culture through the development of sustainable tourism

Marc Weiglein

The presentation will show that Ecotourism and Sustainable Tourism are important concepts – if applied correctly – to empower indigenous Papuans and to preserve their culture. The presentation consists of five sections.

Section 1 gives a definition of Ecotourism and Sustainable Tourism in general, with the conclusion that these modern forms of tourism are dedicated to provide financial benefits and empowerment directly for local people and to empower cultural awareness and respect.

Section 2 outlines todays trends in world wide tourism, with a special focus on Indonesia as a host country and Europe on the visitor side. It can be shown that a growing number of European tourist are interested in Ecotourism and that these Ecotourists spend more money on their independent tours than holidaymakers do in general.

Section 3 shows a practical approach of how Ecotourism ca be applied in Papua and moreover a new approach of marketing Papuan tourism and representing Papuan interests directly in Europe is presented. The Baliem Valley Resort attracts a growing number of tourists for over ten years now, by meeting all general criteria of Sustainable Tourism. On the other side, the newly founded Papua Promotion House in Germany will enhance the promotion of Papuan tourism through a Papua Museum, a Papua student house, a Papua café and a newly created website that will contain all major information on Papua culture and tourism.

Section 4 presents further projects of Ecotourism in Papua, such as the tree-house hotel Manopteropo and outlines how these projects directly benefit the local communities.

Section 5 give a conclusion and outlook. It is recommended that the Government of Papua recognizes Ecotourism as a great means to directly support local communities. Already existing projects that meet general Ecotourism criteria need to be further supported. Furthermore the development of new projects needs to be facilitated.

In the future it is necessary to collaborate among all actors in the sector (consumer, tour operators, government and non-government organizations) to promote and marketing Papua as a ecotourism-destination. With the foundation of the Papuan Promotion House a great step was taken to directly promote Papuan tourism in Europe. This process needs to be continued.