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Where to next? Community-based tourism in hidden Timor-Leste
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Where to next? Community-based tourism in hidden Timor-Leste

Explore community-based tourism in Oé-Cusse, Timor-Leste's hidden enclave, where UNDP supports local entrepreneurs building sustainable, equitable travel experiences.

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Community Tourism in Oé-Cusse

This photo essay showcases the community-based approach to tourism development in untouched Oé-Cusse, Timor-Leste’s remote Special Administrative Region. Community-based tourism is seen as essential to ensuring that development happens in an equitable and sustainable way — generating income for local and national economies, creating jobs, supporting new businesses, balancing regional economic disparities, and protecting the natural and cultural environment.

Local Entrepreneurs and the UNDP Partnership

The essay highlights local entrepreneurs who have benefitted from a community-based tourism development programme executed by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), in partnership with the Special Administrative Region (SAR) of Oé-Cusse Ambeno. Their stories illustrate how tourism, when rooted in community ownership, can become a genuine driver of livelihoods rather than an extractive industry.

Read the Full Photo Essay

To read the full essay and view the photographs, visit the official document:

Where to next? Community-based tourism in hidden Timor-Leste


Extracted from the official Timor-Leste tourism website on 2025-06-15T14:50:04.763099