As we celebrate Indigenous Business Month it is exciting to see international visitors returning to Tropical North Queensland’s Indigenous experiences. Members of the TNQ Indigenous Experiences Cluster Group are reporting great numbers.
Walkabout Cultural Tours has seen sales increase by 13% on the previous year and Mandingalbay Authentic Indigenous Tours had a bumper September with 520 guests last month up from the handful they were getting when they relaunched in 2022.
These operators, Juan Walker and Dale Mundraby, are leaders within the Indigenous tourism space and as Co-Chairs share their experience with up-and-coming cultural experiences each month at the TNQ Indigenous Experiences Cluster Group meetings. This group’s work in positioning Tropical North Queensland as a leader in Indigenous-led and owned Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander tourism is the secret to our success in that space.
TTNQ works with this group and this month welcomed Perina Drummond to our team as the Cluster’s part-time coordinator. This month we also celebrate TTNQ’s Reflect Reconciliation Action Plan being officially accredited by Reconciliation Australia, marking another milestone in our organisation’s work to elevate First Nations tourism.
The RAP deliverables include working with each of our Local Tourism Organisations and partner agencies to identify and work with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander stakeholders, businesses and organisations.
The Indigenous experience in tourism is a form of reconciliation that has a huge positive impact in helping to close the gap. It allows visitors to connect in a respectful way to country, culture and the people at the heart of it.
As the number of visitors wanting to experience our country’s First Nations culture grows, so too do the number of Indigenous experiences with 41 bookable international-ready products in Tropical North Queensland.
Businesses wanting to attract international visitors need help to understand how the complex tourism and travel industry works and that is where the Cluster group offers support, while TTNQ assisted seven Indigenous products with mentoring over the past year.
The Cluster also played a key role in creating the TNQ First Nations Tourism Plan which launched in May 2023 recognising that all tourism is on country. This was the first Indigenous action plan for tourism in Queensland, and the Cluster will now start the review process for the 2025-28 plan to align with the State Plan launched in November.
Tropical North Queensland’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander experiences are a pillar of our destination brand platform and a compelling attraction for international visitors who want to understand the significance of our dual World Heritage areas through the eyes of the world’s oldest living culture.
Mark Olsen
Chief Executive Officer