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The William & Lily Foundation, in collaboration with the DESMA Center, is implementing a two-year program to strengthen the vocational school ecosystem in Southwest Sumba, running from August 2020 to July 2022. Before the program began, the DESMA Center conducted a baseline study by performing a rapid assessment of the tourism vocational high school in Southwest Sumba and a rapid assessment of the tourism industry in Southwest Sumba.

The results of the baseline study indicate that the tourism destinations in Southwest Sumba hold significant potential to attract both domestic and international tourists, as evidenced by the fact that the majority of tourists stay for more than 3 days and 2 nights, have relatively high spending levels, and show a rising trend in visitor numbers. This has also led to increased revenue and profits for local businesses.

However, this has not yet been matched by an increase in the number of new businesses, an expansion of business scale, or an increase in the recruitment of new workers in the tourism sector. The role of the local government and other stakeholders in the tourism sector needs to be strengthened to boost regional tourism development—particularly in the creation of new businesses, the expansion of micro, small, medium, and large enterprises, and the creation of job opportunities for new workers.

Vocational high school (SMK) graduates have significant opportunities as workers in the tourism sector because the majority of employees needed by the business and industrial sectors in the tourism industry in Southwest Sumba are SMK or senior high school (SMA) graduates. The development of human resources in tourism cannot be achieved solely by improving the quality of tourism-focused vocational high schools; it must also go hand in hand with enhancing the competitiveness of the tourism sector as a whole.