Beyond the textbook - linking Swiss Students with destination managers in Indonesia

Tim recently had the pleasure of leading sessions of the Tourism and Hospitality Management unit for BSc Business Administration students at the University of Applied Sciences in Lucerne, Switzerland. The sessions focussed on sustainable tourism and destination management in developing countries, and were intended to go beyond the textbooks and bring real life experience to the virtual classroom. We gave an introduction into how sustainable tourism can contribute to international development goals,  and an overview of some of the approaches and methods destination managers can use to develop their product. The students were then tasked to work on a real-life destination case in Indonesia.  They had to come up with an innovative and sustainable tourism product idea, which they were then able to pitch to experienced destination managers and other stakeholders in Flores and Wakatobi, Indonesia. A big thank you goes to to our colleagues in Indonesia for their time and sharing their experience with the students, and to the students themselves for their enthusiastic participation.