NHTV Master in Tourism Destination Management alumnus Nicole Heidenreich at Kelimutu Crater Lakes, Moni, Flores, Indonesia

At Kelimutu Crater Lakes, Moni, Flores, Indonesia

Bali? Yes, I am still in Bali, gradually on the way to become a Bali expat. I want to tell you my exciting journey after my TDM life. It started off with a professional and private rollercoaster during my thesis writing time in Bali. To understand my topic as much as possible, I was working long hours for a travel agency, while in my spare time I was doing thesis research and trying to figure out what I want after graduation.

During this difficult time I met a person who became very important in my life and offered me to live in her wonderful villa while introducing me to the NGO Swisscontact (www.swisscontact.ch), which she was working for. Swisscontact is a non-governmental organization (NGO) established by the international private sector and educational institutions in Switzerland in 1959. Currently Swisscontact is implementing Project WISATA (2009 – 2013), a tourism development project in Flores Island financed by the State Secretariat of Economic Affairs (SECO). The project aims at improving the competitiveness of Flores (www.florestourism.com) as a tourism destination by supporting and developing the private sector tourism businesses while improving and strengthening governmental ties. I was amazed by the project and its initiatives and suddenly there it was – the opportunity of an internship, which I accepted with great excitement. Thus, after graduating from the TDM Master in Breda in January 2012, I immediately flew back to the island of gods and started to work in the area of quality & standards.

During this time I also had the chance to attend the final presentation of phase II from TDM 2011/2012 as a part of the expert panel. The presentations took place on two days in the meeting venues of the Hotel Puri Saron and Hotel W in Seminyak. I can tell you, it was a very interesting feeling to be “on the other side” with my former teachers and Bali experts and engaging my peers in interesting discussions and commenting on their last field research. The students presented some creative ideas and showed innovative presentation techniques. Living and working in Bali for a year now has increased my insight into “what’s up in Bali” enough in order to express my perspectives regarding presented project outcomes. However, the flashback was enormous and I remembered my old TDM times which already seem so far away. I saw many new faces but still could feel and see similar adventures, stories, difficulties, joy, nervousness and relief.

NHTV Master in Tourism Destination Management alumnus Nicole Heidenreich during an assessment with a vocational tourism school in Ruteng, Flores, Indonesia

During an assessment with a vocational tourism school in Ruteng, Flores, Indonesia

Back from the daydream of old times… Time moved extremely fast in these couple of months and another door opened up – a contract with Swisscontact, my first real job. I am now junior project advisor and responsible for the area destination development. This comprises developing and adapting standards for tourism SMEs, developing training concepts and taking care of the coordination between activities in Bali and the field offices in Flores. Soon I will have the honor to lead a small team of an expert for tourism standards, a junior in the field health and environment as well as an intern. This represents quite a challenge but thanks to the great support of my network I will manage to tackle this task.

Looking back at these past two years, from the start of my TDM Master in 2010 until now, I cannot describe how much I have learnt. TDM put me through many beautiful but also many difficult situations, but only now I realize that it was exactly that which enabled me to deal with my tasks, with my international work environment, the cultural challenges and my external network. Without TDM I probably wouldn’t have found my first job, in a place I love, doing a job I love.

“Take time to deliberate; but when the time for action arrives, stop thinking and go in.”