EU-EAGA Business Technology Meeting, Miri, Sarawak
Last Updated: 1st December, 2009

---

EU-EAGA Business Technology Meeting, Miri, Sarawak By Janet Cochrane 1st December, 2009

En route from her research in the Mulu National Pa rk, Janet spent 3 days at a seminar in Miri, Sarawa k. The seminar was funded by the EU to encourage business links between European institutions and enterprises in East Asia . Specifically, the companies present came from the ‘BIMP-EAGA’ region – the ‘Brunei-Indonesia-Malaysia-Philippines East Asia Growth Area’. One of the business strands was tourism, and Janet had over 25 one-to-one business meetings and made a presentation on ‘The Business Case for Responsible Tourism’ to an appreciative audience.

There was particular interest from South East Asian development agencies and Chambers of Commerce, especially those hoping to develop tourism in eastern areas of Indonesia – the parts tourists don’t usually get to! Having visited some of these places while exploring Indonesia in the 1980s and 1990s, Janet can confirm that there’s excellent tourism potential there for diving, hiking, cultural tourism and general tourism.

Amongst other things, it was encouraging to hear that the North Sulawesi tourism planners intend to manage their resources carefully, fostering responsible tourism through measures such as generating energy needs from geothermal sources.