Victoria's Aboriginal Tourism Development Plan 2006-2009
2. What is Aboriginal tourism?
This plan uses a broad definition of the type of business or activity that can provide a meaningful Aboriginal tourism experience. In Victoria, a better term may be Aboriginal cultural tourism experience, as many products are of an educative and interpretative nature.
This plan recognises enterprises or activities that:
- operate in Victoria
- re open to the public and provide consenting contact with Aboriginal people and/or interpretation of their culture or their land
- are owned or operated by Aboriginal people, or are owned/operated in partnership with non-Aboriginal people
- promote authentic and distinctive local Aboriginal culture, whether traditional or contemporary, sometimes with other Australian Indigenous cultures.
Enterprises and activities include guided tours, education programs, accommodation, performance, exhibitions, interpreted sites (cultural heritage and natural), bush tucker or catering, craft and retail outlets.
However, it may also include more contemporary activities such as public events and informal spontaneous opportunities for interaction and learning. These may be a departure from the stereotypical representations of traditional Indigenous culture often presented to tourists, but reflect the view that Indigenous people have changed with the times and their contemporary achievements and issues should be equally valued and offered.
Several of these cultural experiences may not meet the criteria for a tourism enterprise, such as regularity and consistency of operation, profit-orientation, active involvement in industry associations and marketing campaigns as well as a strong focus on customer service.
There is also sometimes a perceived gap between what Indigenous businesses have to offer and what is expected by the tourism industry. This may happen when an enterprise has been established for reasons other than tourism - most commonly for community development, cultural education and preservation. Tourism, therefore, can be a minor consideration for their operation, and measurement of the success of these businesses based only on profit and other commercial grounds can be misleading.
This plan acknowledges the importance of these other priorities, and offers strategies for partially closing the gap and setting realistic expectations for those enterprises that have accepted, or wish to accept, the challenge of becoming an active player in Australia's buoyant tourism and travel industry.
A profile of the majority of Victoria's current Aboriginal tourism operators (as at July 2005) and a summary of the major business categories relating to Aboriginal tourism is included in Appendix 3.