Dili, August 23, 2025 (Média Democracia) – The Market Development Facility (MDF), with financial support from the Government of Australia, is promoting sustainable economic development in Timor-Leste through the Hotel Owners Timor-Leste Association (HOTL), by strengthening two key sectors: agriculture and tourism, via a Business-to-Business (B2B) activity.
In an interview, the General Manager of the Hotel Owners Timor-Leste Association (HOTL), Marlon Cristianto, explained that the event was carried out in collaboration with Airnorth under a program called Dili Famtrip, which included visits to municipalities.
“The aim of the association is to bring Timor to the world and the world to Timor so that people can experience Timor-Leste’s tourism. Let me share a bit about the association’s history: HOTL was established in 2019 with ten founding members. At that time, it was called the Timor Lorosa’e Hotel Association. Hotels such as Hotel Timor, Timor Plaza Hotel, Novo Turismo, and Timor Lodge were members. However, there were not many visitors, and we were thinking about how we could attract tourists to Timor. At that point, instead of competing against each other, we thought: why not work together so we can bring greater benefits to our own country,” said Marlon Cristianto, General Manager of HOTL.
He added that through this collaboration, the association holds a general assembly every year. In recent years, the assembly decided to change the name from Timor Lorosa’e Hotel Association back to Hotel Owners Timor-Leste Association (HOTL), with the vision of “bringing Timor to the world and the world to Timor” through joint efforts.
“The association’s main goal is to strengthen our tourism services. That has always been our mission and vision. This time, working together with Airnorth, we brought agencies from Australia to Timor for a week-long visit to explore our country. They visited places such as the Resistance Museum, Cristo Rei, Atauro, Aileu, and Maubisse. Today’s activity was a Business-to-Business (B2B) networking event, designed to build friendships and partnerships so that Timorese producers with quality products can access the Australian market,” Cristianto said.
Earlier this year, HOTL conducted a survey through the Tourism Barometer, which revealed that about 70% of tourists were willing to spend their money in Timor to explore its attractions. This reinforced HOTL’s commitment to continue communication and partnership with international stakeholders to encourage more tourist visits.
“When I personally welcomed tourists from Australia, they said that Dili felt like Fiji. And we know Fiji is a major tourist destination. This means Timor has already begun transforming in the tourism sector,” Cristianto emphasized.
He further explained that the association, which started with ten members, faced challenges due to the limited number of visitors. However, they changed their approach by collaborating with the private sector and other companies in Timor.
“The association does not only look at hotels, but also at food and beverages, tour guides such as Money Explore, and travel agencies. These are the members I mentioned. We believe that when we work together, we can take our country to the world,” said Cristianto.
Joselina Filipin from the Timor Coffee Association (AST), who also participated in the event, shared her views on promoting tourism, particularly highlighting Timorese coffee.
“I believe many people in developed countries love drinking coffee, but they don’t know about our coffee. That is why we must work together with our partners to promote Timorese tourism worldwide. We want people to know that our coffee has a unique flavor and is grown directly by our farmers without chemical fertilizers, it’s completely organic,” said Joselina.
She added that the presentation highlighted coffee-based tourism packages, offering visitors the chance to experience Timorese coffee production and taste its unique flavor.
“We have also organized events at both municipal and national levels. For example, we’ve held festivals in Aileu and also the Timor Coffee Festival nationally. Since its establishment, AST has organized these two major events,” Joselina explained.
She reaffirmed that the event provides hope for the future, particularly in contributing to positive changes in agriculture and tourism, which will help attract more visitors to Timor.
The event was organized by the Market Development Facility (MDF), an initiative supported by the Government of Australia to promote sustainable economic development in Timor-Leste, focusing on agriculture and tourism. It was held in partnership with the Hotel Owners Timor-Leste Association (HOTL), and featured B2B meetings between Australian tourism agents such as Travel Managers, Kimberley & Beyond, Helloworld Travel, Perth Corporate Travel Management, and Flight Centre Perth, together with Timorese tourism agents.
Report: Domingas
Photo: Domingas