Philipps‐University of Marburg Faculty of Geography Final Thesis for the award of the academic degree Diplom‐Geograph Sustainable Destination Management in Timor‐Leste Author Thesis Coaches Christian Wollnik Prof. Dr. Markus Hassler wollnik@daad‐alumni.de Prof. Dr. Christian Opp Marburg, December 2011 Acknowledgments Acknowledgments This thesis would not have been possible without the financial support of the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), as well as the helpful assistance by the members of the German East Timor Society (DOTG e.V.), who especially facilitated the preparation of the field research in Tim‐ or‐Leste. With regard to my stay in Timor‐Leste, I would like to thank all my interviewees, as well as all the welcoming Timorese I met – I am still impressed by the uniqueness of both the countryside and its charming people, who tend to look into a bright future, hopefully for good and all leav‐ ing the troubles of the past behind. I also would like to offer my gratitude to the Austrian Society for South‐East Asian Studies (SEAS) and Tourism Watch, the Desk for Corporate Social Responsibility andTourism at the Church Devel‐ opment Service (EED). Both institutions gave me the opportunity to present my ongoing re‐ search and preliminary results.* I am heartily thankful to my supervisor, Prof. Dr. Markus Hassler, for his encouragement, guid‐ ance and support from the initial to the final level of the study. Lastly, I offer my regards and blessings to all of those who supported me in any respect during the completion of the project, especially my close friends and my family. * WOLLNIK, C. (2011): Lieber Bhutan als Bali? Perspektiven nachhaltiger Tourismusentwicklung in Timor‐ Leste. – In: ASEAS ‐ Austrian Journal of South‐East Asian Studies, Vol. 4, Iss. 1: 150‐157. WOLLNIK, C. (2011): Bald ein weiteres verlorenes Paradies? Timor‐Leste vor einer rasanten Entwicklung des Tourismussektors. – In: Tourism Watch Infodienst, No. 65: 12‐15. ‐ I ‐ Abstract Abstract The destination became the main competitive unit in the tourism sector, and is defined as “as a tourist product and then as a specific supply involving a set of resources, activities and actors of a territory” (MANENTE & MINGHETTI 2005, p. 230). Further, sustainable destination management is defined as the joint management of a destination in consideration of the concept of sustainable development, and can be seen as the key tool for accomplishing a sustainable tourism development. This study tackles the status quo of sustainable destination management in Timor‐Leste. The fact that the tourism sector in Timor‐Leste is still at a grassroots level must be understood as a huge chance to choose a ‘right’ pathway of tourism development, always bearing in mind that mis‐ guided developments cannot easily get adjusted in future. The analysis focuses on five categories of sustainable destination management according to DWYER & KIM (2003): [1] Organization of destination management, [2] destination planning and development, [3] destination marketing management, [4] human resource development, and [5] environmental management. Regarding the organizational structures, the analysis leads to the tough but inevitable conclu‐ sion that Timor‐Leste from a supply side point of view cannot be referred to as a destination, mainly due to the poor cooperation of its stakeholders and the absence of a strong steering entity. Against this background, the term management is inappropriate, as obviously is the no‐ tion sustainable. A major problem in terms of planning and developing the destination lies in the huge discrepan‐ cy between the outlined vision and the strategies and actions undertaken to achieve this high‐ flying target: Tourism is officially prospected to be the countries second most important eco‐ nomic sector by 2030. In contrast, the strategies to achieve this ambitious goals are totally inap‐ propriate, as they only imply actions that focus on small‐scale and thus labor‐extensive projects in the area of community‐based tourism or ecotourism. A major obstacle in this context is that many of the destination’s stakeholders still understand sustainable tourism as a niche‐concept instead of considering it a concept that should underly all all kinds of tourism from niche to mass markets and all levels of tourism planning and management. ‐ II ‐ Abstract Due to the lack of an integrated product, the current marketing activities focus on marketing the country, not the destination. Regarding the development of human resources, it has to be stated that the number of ap‐ prenticeships is limited, while the courses offered only focus on low‐skilled jobs in the area of cleaning and serving. As there exists a huge awareness of the importance of vital natural resources for the future de‐ velopment among the destination’s stakeholders, the Government put serious emphasis on en‐ vironmental issues since independence. Nonetheless, almost all facets of environmental man‐ agement, such as the designation and management of protected areas, are still in its infancy. Against the background of the findings of the status quo analysis, it seems likely that the Gov‐ ernment sooner or later will make concessions towards investors that are on the country’s doorstep already, as more and more young Timorese put an increasing pressure on the labor market. This bears the risk of a future tourism development dictated by a couple of foreigners that downgrade the Timorese to an oft‐quoted generation of waiters and cleaners. In order to keep the control in Timorese hands, in the final recommendations the author calls on the destination’s stakeholders to finally be proactive. As a guiding concept he suggests his prag‐ matic Shrinking Triangle of Sustainable Destination Management in Timor‐Leste. This model is based on a mainstreaming sustainability approach that combines the advantages of (mostly for‐ eign) large‐scale developments with the basic principles of the concept of sustainable tourism, in order to finally bridge the gap between visions and reality, and without neglecting essential sustainability issues at the same time. Keywords: Destination, Management, Sustainability / Sustainable Development, Tourism, Timor‐Leste / East Timor ‐ III ‐ Table of Contents Table of Contents Acknowledgments ……………………………………………………………………………………………I Abstract…………………………………………………………………………………………………………II Table of Contents ……………………………………………………………………………………………IV List of Figures ………………………………………………………………………………………………VII List of Tables …………………………………………………………………………………………………VII List of Boxes ………………………………………………………………………………………………VIII List of Acronyms and Abbreviations ……………………………………………………………………IX Prologue: Tourism in Timor‐Leste in 1999 ………………………………………………………………1 1 Introduction ……………………………………………………………………………………………2 1.1 Research Objectives ……………………………………………………………………………………5 1.2 Methodology ……………………………………………………………………………………………6 1.3 Stage of Research ………………………………………………………………………………………6 1.4 Structure and Contents ………………………………………………………………………………7 1.5 Note from the Author …………………………………………………………………………………8 2 Tourism, Sustainable Development and Destination Management: Theoretical Background ……………………………………………………………………………10 2.1 Tourism: A Global Phenomenon with Emerging Markets …………………………………11 2.1.1 Definition of Tourism …………………………………………………………………………12 2.1.2 Trends in Tourism Consumption Behavior ……………………………………………15 2.1.3 Global Tourism Trends / Statistics…………………………………………………………16 2.2 Sustainable Development and Tourism …………………………………………………………18 2.2.1 The Concept of Sustainable Development ……………………………………………18 2.2.2 The Concept of Sustainable Tourism: From Niche to Mainstream………………19 2.2.3 Tools and Techniques of Sustainability in Tourism …………………………………23 2.3 The Concept of Destinations ………………………………………………………………………28 2.3.1 Definition of Destination ……………………………………………………………………28 2.3.2 Understanding the Destination as a System …………………………………………30 2.3.3 Destination Competitiveness………………………………………………………………32 2.3.4 The Destination Life Cycle …………………………………………………………………33 2.3.5 Destination Management: Goals and Tasks……………………………………………35 3 Sustainable Destination Management: A Framework for the Analysis …………………38 3.1 Organization of Destination Management ……………………………………………………42 3.1.1 Coordination ……………………………………………………………………………………44 3.1.2 Provision / Share of Information …………………………………………………………44 3.1.3 Monitoring and Evaluation …………………………………………………………………45 3.2 Destination Planning and Development ………………………………………………………45 3.3 Destination Marketing Management ……………………………………………………………47 3.4 Human Resource Development …………………………………………………………………48 3.5 Environmental Management ………………………………………………………………………49 3.6 Summary / Critique……………………………………………………………………………………49 ‐ IV ‐ Table of Contents 4 Timor‐Leste: A Country Between Post‐Conflict Traumata and State‐Building…………52 4.1 Geography ………………………………………………………………………………………………52 4.2 Administrative Division, Demography and Cultural Diversity ……………………………56 4.3 History: From Centuries of Foreign Rule to Independence ………………………………57 4.3.1 The Portuguese Colony ………………………………………………………………………57 4.3.2 The Indonesian Occupation ………………………………………………………………58 4.3.3 Post‐Independent Tensions…………………………………………………………………59 4.4 Actual Political and Socioeconomic Situation and Key Challenges ……………………61 4.5 Involvement of the International Development Cooperation ……………………………63 5 Review of Previous Chapters………………………………………………………………………65 6 Methodology …………………………………………………………………………………………68 6.1 Field Research Methodology ………………………………………………………………………69 6.2 Analytical Methodology ……………………………………………………………………………71