Jakarta. The Dutch Center of Excellence in the field of Entertainment, Tourism and Hospitality, or CELTH, and the DEL Institute of Technology, have agreed to help develop Lake Toba in North Sumatra to become a sustainable tourism destination. 

The agreement was made during a series of seminars on sustainable tourism and water quality on Lake Toba at the DEL Institute of Technology in North Sumatra on March 10-11, attended by Dutch King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima during their three-day state visit to Indonesia.

The seminars were also attended by the Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment, Luhut Binsar Panjaitan.

The collaboration between Indonesia and the Netherlands to create sustainable tourism in Lake Toba will implement the Living Lab concept. 

The concept combines the strengths of educational and research institutions from both countries in collaboration with the local community, entrepreneurs and government.

Its implementation in Lake Toba will have a long-term focus on action-oriented learning, based on experiments taken from real life. 

To kick off the collaboration, a workshop was held in Tuktuk on Lake Toba's Samosir Island, facilitated by CELTH, where stakeholders from community groups, individuals and local governments discussed plans for Lake Toba as a sustainable tourism destination.

The initial phase of the Living Lab concept will be carried out in three years with support from the North Sumatra Provincial Government, the Dutch Embassy in Jakarta, the Dutch Consulate in Medan, Nuffic Neso Indonesia, IT DEL, CELTH and the Wise Steps Foundation. 

During one of the seminars, Queen Máxima met with postgraduate students from Breda University of Applied Sciences who were involved in Living Lab activities in North Sumatra.