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Sunlight, sea, and sustainable tourism: Indonesian women entrepreneurs adjust to a changing world

About an hour’s drive east of Budo, the inhabitants of Marinsow have taken a crash course in the bed and breakfast business, a steep learning curve for many of them. Visitors can buy local delicacies and drinks at the solution counter, and the orders are prepared and delivered to the pier by available members from the village association. “We share the work, we all share the income – this is tourism at a human being scale” , says Mr. Lorens Singa. A programme set up by the International Labour Firm ( ILO , a UN agency), is certainly helping the rural neighborhood of Budo, and 4 other villages, to diversify into sustainable tourism, supplying skills to local entrepreneurs, mostly women. Budo, like many coastal villages within North Sulawesi, in much northeastern Indonesia, has traditionally been dependent on small scale fishing, but fish stocks and shares have shrunk, prompting a new focus on tourism as a way of making livelihoods.

The fishing pier of Budo village has been converted into an area for tourists.

The Budo village fishing pier is now a tourist attraction.

Mirielle. Gaspar / UNIC Jakarta Nevertheless , until a few years ago, the particular pier – about three hundred meters long, crossing a mangrove forest to connect the particular village to the open ocean – was dilapidated plus used only by fishers heading out to sea. More than 50 villagers received small wooden bungalows on the plots to start bed and breakfast businesses, or homestays, as they are known within Indonesia. ILO, with nearby partners Klabat University and the Manado State Polytechnic, will be helping to teach local people the skills needed to be a successful entrepreneur, like bookkeeping, cost calculation plus marketing, hospitality, and tourism. Back in Budo, there is interest in building more homestays, plus increasing overnight stays, possibly by creating a marketing campaign to convince foreign tourists through nearby world-class diving locations within the Bunaken Marine Park to hop over for an evening meal and make a trip to a typical village, rather than sticking to the usual mass tourism places. The Village Enterprise Organization also plans to offer food preparation and handicraft classes, in addition to fishing trips. The particular Indonesian government supplied wooden buildings on top of or alongside villagers’ houses in Marinsow Marinsow is in a mining area, several kilometres away from Indonesia’s pristine beaches, so vacationers previously had no reason to stop by. But , considering that Marinsow was designated like a “priority tours destination” by the Government, the village provides received a significant financial increase, aimed at diversifying the economy. The investment within skills for marketing and high quality control in these communities will be paying off, with about half of the few hundred tourists investing the night in Marinsow this past year coming from outside the province, including an increasing number from overseas.

The Indonesian government supplied wooden buildings on top of or next to villagers’ houses in Marinsow
The boat dock has been renovated and painted, with support from the government, and benches and wooden huts have been added for that convenience of tourists, who spend an entrance fee associated with 10, 000 Rupiahs ( M. Gaspar / UNIC Jakarta

Homestays, hashtags, plus home cooking

Since the renovation, a fifth of the guests spend more, ordering local delicacies and drinks at the ticket counter with the occasional website visitor also staying the night. Despite the improvements, a lot still remains to be done, and Mr. Lorens Singa is not complacent. “We need to offer more reasons for individuals to stay for a meal or overnight, ” he demands. “I was very amazed to learn that tourists choose their sheet white plus a diversity of meals, ” says Yeni Alelo. Microsoft. Alelo and the other individuals have also learned the importance of using hashtags in social media marketing blogposts, so that tourists looking for a place to stay in the area find them easier. “Our task now is to make sure that when the funding from ILO and the government stops, we will have a fully formed business that allows us to stand completely on this own feet, ” says Mr. Lorens Singa. “ We had the vision, and we have the commitment – I am confident we will succeed.

Yeli Alelo at her homestay in Marinsow, northeastern Indonesia.
Yet those were different times, explains Hani Lorens Singa, President of the Village Organization Association (BUMDES): back then there was far more fish, and no tourists.

Yeni Alelo on her homestay in Marinsow, Indonesia

Yet those were different times, explains Hani Lorens Singa, President of the Village Organization Association (BUMDES): back then there was far more fish, and no tourists.

People of the Budo tourism organization prepare local delicacies designed for tourists.

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