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What Responsible Tourism Can Look Like in Sumba

What Responsible Tourism Can Look Like in Sumba

When you stay at Sumba Hospitality Foundation, you're more than just a hotel guest because you're empowering local Sumbanese youth.

With a strong vision for responsible tourism in the region, Sumba Hospitality Foundation welcomes visitors to stay at their on-campus hotel school which includes five beautiful, bamboo guest pavilions tended to by students.

Sumba Hospitality Foundation. Image: Our Better World
Sumba Hospitality Foundation. Image: Our Better World

During their stay, visitors are encouraged to interact with the students to explore Sumba, or share any experiences that will be of value to the students.

Students are hand-picked every year to attend the immersive one-year programme, where they are mentored by industry professionals. The foundation also offers scholarship to promising Sumbanese youth to be trained for future employment in the hospitality industry.

Bamboo guest pavilion at Sumba Hospitality Foundation. Image: Our Better World
Bamboo guest pavilion at Sumba Hospitality Foundation. Image: Our Better World

 

The school also comes with full boarding, meals, and healthcare to support the eradication of malnutrition in youth in Sumba.

Jeffry, one of the student at Sumba Hospitality Foundation, worked in a family farm before attending the school. Along with other 40 students from all over Sumba, Jeffry not only acquire vocational skills, but also learn English, personal development, and permaculture farming, so that he can share with their communities back home.    

“Now I get to meet people from all over the world,” said Jeffry to Our Better World, a storytelling initiative of the Singapore International Foundation.

To inspire other communities with the foundation’s model, its founder, Inge De Lathauwer, boldly chose to kickstart this project in the least resourced region of Sumba. It is also powered entirely by solar energy.

Sumba Hospitality Foundation. Image: Our Better World
Sumba Hospitality Foundation. Image: Our Better World

 

The students each have personal ambitions they’re working towards. Jeffry dreams that “one day I can build a decent house for my parents to stay in their old age.”

We'd love to hear from you - would you consider staying at a hotel school for your next getaway?

 

 

How You Can Help

Reserve a stay in a guest pavilion

Learn more about Sumba Hospitality Foundation

 

A story by Our Better World – telling stories of good to inspire action. 

Indah Gilang Pusparani

Indah is a researcher at Badan Perencanaan Pembangunan Penelitian dan Pengembangan Daerah Kota Cirebon (Regional Development Planning and Research Agency of Cirebon Municipality). She covers More international relations, tourism, and startups in Southeast Asia region and beyond. Indah graduated from MSc Development Administration and Planning from University College London, United Kingdom in 2015. She finished bachelor degree from International Relations from University of Indonesia in 2014, with two exchange programs in Political Science at National University of Singapore and New Media in Journalism at Ball State University, USA. She was awarded Diplomacy Award at Harvard World Model United Nations and named as Indonesian Gifted Researcher by Australian National University. She is Researcher at Regional Planning Board in Cirebon, West Java. She previously worked as Editor in Bening Communication, the Commonwealth Parliament Association UK, and diplomacy consulting firm Best Delegate LLC in USA. Less
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