Wiwik Mahdayani - Founder & Executive Director
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Wiwik Mahdayani received her Master on Tourism Destination Management, from Université Bordeaux 3, France in 2006. She has over 20 years of experience working on ecotourism and sustainable tourism issues. Prior founded DESMA Center, she has worked at French Ministry of Tourism in Paris, France for the International Relations on Tourism cooperations; she also worked at UNESCO Office, where she was responsible to coordinate sustainable tourism and ecotourism development programs in Indonesia Cluster. She also worked at GIZ—a German Federal State-owned enterprise, served as Tourism Promotion and Marketing Advisor for Sustainable tourism and Community-based tourism projects; as well as responsible to provide technical advice on sustainable tourism to support policy to the government. She is also a lecturer at Tourism Management Business, University of Indonesia. She is responsible for classes of Sustainable Tourism, Special Interest Tourism and Feasibility Study.
Wiwik Mahdayani served as tourism consultant and ecotourism expert for the projects managed and/or funded by the World Bank Group, the United Nations ESCAP, UNESCO Office Jakarta, BCCPGLE-KfW (German Development Bank), ASEAN Centre for Biodiversity, European Union, Government of Australia through Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), as well as the Indonesia Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy, Indonesia Ministry of Investment/BKPM.
Wiwik Mahdayani is awardee of Asia Fellow 2010-2011, Asian Public Intellectual Fellow 2012-2013 and DIWA Ashoka 2021. She spent 2 years in Thailand to develop research on Visitor Management for Ecotourism Management and project on Promotion of Ecotourism at 18 national parks in Southern Thailand and spent 3 months in Vietnam for tourism research project. Outside of her professional works, she has published up to 30 articles, publications and books on travel and tourism nationally and internationally. She has long experience as a speaker and moderator for international and national forums, as well as a trainer and coaching.
