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Narration:

Tourism. It’s one of Australia’s largest industries.Ìý

Before COVID, it injected $152 billion into the economy annually and accounted for 1 in 13 jobs.Ìý
After COVID is a different story.
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A ban on in-coming international travel, and repeated lockdowns of the local population have taken a toll on the Australian tourism industry.Ìý

But, with a massive 95% decrease in international departures since early 2020, domestic tourists have a big incentive to explore the incredible destinations and cultural experiences they have right here on their doorstep.

Welcome to The Business of Tourism podcast brought to you by the Australian Graduate School of Management at »Ê¹Ú²ÊƱ Business School. Please share, rate, review and subscribe on your favourite podcast platform.

Australia is home to the oldest living culture on Earth - Indigenous culture - which is central to its national identity.Ìý

In this episode, we’re exploring the rise of Indigenous tourism. You’ll hear about how 60,000 years of continuous Indigenous culture is shaping new and exciting experiences for travellers and tourists, and the huge opportunity this presents to transform the domestic tourism market.
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First up, we’ll be hearing from Phil Lockyer, Head of Indigenous Affairs at Tourism Australia.Ìý
Phil, a proud Noongar man from Western Australia, is speaking with Nick Wailes, Senior Deputy Dean and Director at AGSM. They’ll discuss the crucial role of Indigenous experiences in shaping the future of Australian tourism.Ìý

We’ll also take you to the AGSM New Tracks Indigenous Leaders Festival held earlier this year, where you’ll hear about how a new Indigenous-led tourism initiative on Sydney Harbour is taking shape.

First up, it’s Phil Lockyer in conversation with Nick Wailes. Enjoy listening.Ìý

Nick Wailes:

Phil, thank you for joining us. I thought I'd ask first about your role at Tourism Australia, as head of Indigenous Affairs. Is it a new role?

Phil Lockyer:

Yes it is. Thanks Nick, and thank you for having me on the podcast. Tourism Australia in 2020 committed as one of our strategic pillars, to be a champion for Indigenous tourism, and wanted to look at reconnecting with the Reconciliation Action Plan programme, or RAP.

As part of that, I was then employed in this role in February, to help deliver on our RAP, to help develop it, and also bring to life the strategic commitment around championing and advocating for Indigenous tourism.

Nick Wailes:

Great. It's fantastic to see the organisation is making a commitment to that.

Clearly there isn't a lot of tourism going on at the moment, but there has been significant growth in tourism, and domestic tourism, and particularly Indigenous tourism. Do you think that's something to do with the pandemic, or do you think there was something driving it beforehand?Ìý

Phil Lockyer:

I think that's a contributing factor. As we know, tourism is one of our largest industries. Prior to the 2019-2020 bush fires, it's worth $152 billion annually. It's one in 13 jobs. Every dollar spent in tourism generates 82 cents into different parts of the economy.

Indigenous tourism has grown significantly over the last number of years. 1.4 million international tourists enjoyed an Indigenous experience in 2019 and that has grown each year.

Obviously, the bush fires, and then flowing into COVID, that has had an impact on the ability of international tourists, to engage with Indigenous tourism experiences, but I guess what that has allowed is for domestic travellers, the Australian population who are jumping in their cars, driving and seeing different parts of the country, who are travelling to parts of the country they potentially haven't been to before, are actually engaging and experiencing the great diversity that we have in our country in relation to Indigenous cultures.

Nick Wailes:

Phil, what do you think? You're talking about growth from an international perspective, but also a domestic perspective and people being interested in the Indigenous experiences as part of tourism.

What do you think is driving that?Ìý

Phil Lockyer:

Well, I think that there is a sense that for Australians, there is this deep, rich culture. The world's oldest living culture, 60,000 years. I think that a lot of Australians have felt that, to connect with these experiences, you have to travel a long way, to say NT, or The Kimberley. It can often, in their minds, feel like it's expensive. They don't know how to go about doing it. I think there's a real desire for Australians to have a really authentic experience. They're just not sure how to go about doing that.

I think with COVID, and people obviously not being able to travel internationally, they've had more time to think about how do they want to invest their money? They want to have an experience, a cultural experience different to what they normally have in this country.