Ideas for sustainable tourism in Indonesia

Kleve/Kamp-Lintfort, 11 November 2016: As part of a study tour of Germany organised by the DAAD, 14 students from the State University of Yogyakarta in Indonesia visited Rhein-Waal University of Applied Sciences in Kleve as part of their ‘German as a Foreign or Second Language’ degree programme. They were particularly interested in the ‘Sustainable Tourism’ degree programme offered by the Faculty of Society and Economics. As some of the students, who are learning German in Indonesia, would like to work as tour guides in Yogyakarta in the future, they hoped to gain a deeper insight into this subject area by attending lectures and taking part in group discussions.

The students were first welcomed at Rhein-Waal University of Applied Sciences by Prof. Dr Diana Marquardt, Programme Director of the Sustainable Tourism programme, and Sebastian Amrhein, a research assistant on the Sustainable Tourism programme. They introduced the group to the university and the Faculty of Society and Economics, and provided information on the course content and objectives of the Sustainable Tourism programme. As part of the visit, the Indonesian students had the opportunity to attend lectures on this Bachelor’s programme. The aim was to promote exchange between students from both universities through joint workshops, as well as to give the students from Indonesia an overview of the principles of sustainable tourism and to raise their awareness of this topic. Prof. Dr Diana Marquardt, who teaches the modules ‘Fundamentals of Tourism Management’ and ‘Development Policy and Tourism’, looks back on the exchange positively: “This was an excellent opportunity to discuss sustainable tourism in developing countries such as Indonesia through intercultural workshops and to reflect, together with local people, on the implementation of environmentally and socially responsible measures.”

The three-day visit concluded with a ‘Tandem Day’, during which students from the Faculty of Society and Economics each integrated a guest from Indonesia into their everyday student life at Rhine-Waal University of Applied Sciences. Melina Kouroutos, a student on the Bachelor’s programme in ‘Sustainable Tourism’, was one of the students who played an active part in the Tandem Day: “Through the lectures, but above all through personal conversations with the guests from Indonesia during the Tandem Day, we learnt a great deal about the differences in private and student life. The cultural differences in particular represent a very important experience for us. Although communicating with our tandem partners proved a little difficult at first, we very quickly found common ground, which led to some excellent and in-depth conversations.”