Professor David Hind had the great pleasure of travelling to Indonesia in October 2016 to visit existing APIEM partners and to promote APIEM to potential new members. His journey started on Batam Island, just south of Singapore where he was a speaker at a workshop titled `Developing an Events Management curriculum to an International Standard`. The workshop was for academics and events management professionals who were interested in creating or adapting an existing MICE/events management curriculum to an international standard. Some 50 delegates from Indonesia attended this workshop.
David`s next stop was at Prasetiya Mulya University, Jakarta where he conducted an audit visit to confer APIEM Centre of Excellence status on the Department of Economics and Business that offers the only Bachelors degree in events management in Indonesia. Prasetiya Mulya University is a private university situated adjacent to a new convention and exhibition centre to the south of Jakarta and is a worthy new addition to the APIEM Centre of Excellence elite group of universities.
A very early morning flight from Jakarta saw David arriving in the city of Palembang on Sumatra. Immediately upon arriving at the airport a car whisked David to the Governor of South Sumatra`s house where students, faculty and executives of the Palembang Tourism Polytechnic had gathered to celebrate the opening of this Polytechnic in September 2016 and also to sign a Memorandum of Understanding between APIEM and the Polytechnic for APIEM to assist with the development of an events management curriculum to an international standard. There is a need in Palembang to develop events management as an academic discipline because in 2018 Palembang will be co-hosting the Asia 2018 Games with Jakarta. A new sports city is being built in Palembang and the Polytechnic`s campus is actually located within the sports city. The first 200 students have been recruited to the Polytechnic and they can all be assured of good career prospects when they graduate from their course. Whilst at the Polytechnic David gave a presentation to the students on `creative event design`.
Travelling north from Palembang a one-and-a-half hour flight saw David arriving in Medan in north Sumatra. His visit was hosted by the Medan Tourism Academy which is one of the tourism schools in Indonesia that is funded by the Ministry of Tourism. David`s programme in Medan included a visit to the Medan Polytechnic of North Sumatra where he gave a guest lecture and also conducted a preliminary audit for the Polytechnic to be accredited as an APIEM Centre of Excellence. Medan has been designated by the Ministry of Tourism as a city that will be supported to become a new MICE destination for Indonesia. The Polytechnic of North Sumatra will play a crucial role in educating the MICE/events management professionals of the future. After visiting the Polytechnic David joined a great friend of his, Daniel Purba, at University Pelita Harapan where Daniel is the Managing Editor for the Journal of Economics and Business. After giving a presentation to the students about the events industry David discussed how APIEM can support the university in developing an events management curriculum.
One of the highlights of David`s visit to Medan was an overnight trip to Lake Toba – truly beautiful. Lake Toba is the largest inland lake in south east Asia – a similar size to Singapore. The lake is in the crater of an extinct volcano and the whole area really just attracts Indonesian tourists – there is a tremendous opportunity to open up this naturally beautiful tourist destination to international tourists.
My visit to Medan was organised by Faisal Faisal who is the Director of the Medan Tourism Academy. Faisal and Daniel Purba have now joined the APIEM Advisory Board to contribute to APIEM`s work in Sumatra.
After Medan, David spent six days at the Bandung Institute of Tourism on west Java. It is always a great honour for David to visit his friends at Bandung and on this occasion he completed an APIEM Centre of Excellence audit and was pleased to confer APIEM International Centre of Excellence status on the Bandung Institute of Tourism. Dr Anang Sutono, Director of the Institute is also the Executive Vice President of APIEM and David and Anang had the opportunity to discuss the great progress of APIEM since it was launched in May 2016 at the Asia Tourism Forum conference that was organised by the Bandung Institute of Tourism. During his time in Bandung David also met again the Governor of South Sumatra, Indonesia`s Minister of Tourism and Dr Chang, Dean of the College of Tourism at Chung Hua University, Taiwan – a very busy programme indeed.
David`s final destination in Indonesia was the iconic island of Bali. Here David visited the Bali Institute of Tourism where he undertook an accreditation audit to award this great Institute APIEM Centre of Excellence status. Bali is the leading tourist destination in Indonesia and as well as welcoming leisure tourists it is also important for hosting conventions and exhibitions.
