Bina Swadaya Training Center and Bumi Kita Foundation in collaboration with Indecon conducted a series of training workshop on ecotourism product development and promotion in four different regions in Indonesia. The four regions were North Sumatra, West Java, West Nusa Tenggara and South Sulawesi. These regions were selected based on ecotourism potentials, the number of European tourists visiting the area, local governments’ supports, and the need increase number of foreign tourists. The series of training workshops were conducted in November to December 2005 in each region. The training workshops were aimed at improving relevant parties’ understanding toward the concept of ecotourism, knowledge on how to develop ecotourism packages and how to identify ecotourism potentials, as well as developing marketing strategy to capture global market. Fund for these workshops were obtained from Eurpoean Union Small Projects Facility granted to Bina Swadaya Training Center and Bumi Kita Foundation.

Each workshop involved 25 participants that came from various background, i.e. officials from provincial and district government, managers of tourism destination/site, travel bureaus, NGOs and other community organizations, all of whom had had good relationships as Indecon’s network. The workshops consisted of well-balanced composition of people to ensure that different perspectives could be gathered. Each workshop was held for four days and was facilitated by Indecon with emphasize on product development and policy recommendations for provincial government.

These workshops had several important outcomes such as:
1. The formation of ecotourism networks in four regions in Indonesia. These networks would serve as nodes for ecotourism development in the area. The networks would also facilitate local governments, travel bureaus and community organizations in activities aiming to increase the number of foreign and domestic visitors. The four networks would then coordinate with Indecon which had positioned itself as the node for ecotourism organization in national level. These four networks are as follows:
• North Sumatra Ecotourism Club (Klub Ekowisata Sumatera Utara)
Contact: Saiful Bahri; email: ecotourismclub@gmail.com; Address: Jalan Sadar Barat 135, Lubuk Pakam 20517, Medan, Sumatera Utara.
• West Java Ecotourism Forum (Forum Ekowisata Jawa Barat)
Contact: Teguh Hartono/Sudiyono; email: teharbio@indo.net.id; Address: Jalan Taman Pagelaran Blok B 17, No.8-9, Padasuka, Ciomas, Bogor 16610
• Lombok Friends of Ecotourism (Sahabat Ekowisata Lombok)
Contact: Asmuni Irpan; email: rinjani@indo.net.id; Address: Jalan Panca Usaha No. 11 Mataram – Lombok – Nusa Tenggara Barat
• Celebes Ecotourism Forum (CEF) – Forum Ekowisata Sulawesi
Contact: Irham Ilyas; email: irham@indosat.net.id; Address: Jalan Tammalanrea Raya 126, Makassar BTP 90245 – Sulawesi Selatan.

2. Ecotourism declarations were composed by all participants of each workshop which tried to push provincial and district level government to create policies for the implementation of ecotourism in each area. In addition, the declarations also aimed to urge coordination among parties in ecotourism development, promotion, and capacity building. These declaration can be seen in NETWORK page.
3. Competitive ecotourism products were identified based on ecotourism criteria: (1) environmentally sound  responsible and take into account conservation efforts; (2) involving community  encourage community participation and culturally senseitive; (3) providing good quality services that bring comfort and satisfaction to the visitors. The products that were developed during the workshops also came up with prices and marketing mechanism as well as the implementation for each region.