Aboriginal culture tours are taking off

Watch out for a growing demand in Aboriginal culture tours – which have become mature over the past couple of years with an interesting array of internationally-ready product on offer all around Australia.

During a recent Indigenous Experience tour of the UK and continental Europe, organised by Indigenous Tourism Australia, there was increased interest by the local travel industry in the Aboriginal product being presented.

Indigenous Tourism Australia (ITA) was set up two years ago under the Tourism Australia umbrella, and the Indigenous Experience European tour, the first of its kind, was led by Aden Ridgeway, the executive chairman of ITA, who told Selling Down Under that there will be a big step-up in marketing internationally-ready Aboriginal product over the coming months.

In a new TV promotion in Germany, more emphasis is being put on Aboriginal product in a revised version of the Where the Bloody Hell Are You campaign – which takes into account the demand for Aboriginal experiences in the German market.

So what product should you be looking out for that’s about to take off in Europe?

For a start there is Kooljaman at Cape Leveque in the Kimberley region of Western Australia, which is already a popular Aboriginal-owned wilderness camp located 220 kilometres north of Broome on the Dampier Peninsula.

Kooljaman,owned by the Bardi people from the two Aboriginal communities of One Arm Point and Djarindjin, is a multi award winning destination – and recently picked up the top Eco Tourism accolade at the annual Australian Tourism Awards.

Here's a tip: one of the best ways to look for Aboriginal product in Western Australia is to go to the new website of the Western Australian Indigenous Tourism Operators Committee – better known as WAITOC.

Visitors to Sydney now have the opportunity of experiencing the harbour in a different light with Tribal Warrior, an Indigenous cultural cruise that presents the history of the area though Aboriginal eyes – a unique package that is set to become a major player on Sydney Harbour.

Anybody who has visited Cairns over the years will know about Tjapukai, the Aboriginal Culture Park on the road leading to Port Douglas that showcases the traditions of the Indigenous rainforest people of Tropical North Queensland.

Having started out twenty years ago as a small dance theatre company in Kuranda, Tjapukai has become a multi-award-winning top Australian attraction. Now one its founders. Judy Freeman, is helping a small group of Cape York Aboriginal operators to enter the international market – and that could be a winning formula.

The new marketing alliance includes Cape York Turtle Rescue, Aurukun Wetland Charters, Weipa Cultural Centre and Walker Family Tours – and it’s all product that fits in well with one of the itineraries available on the new Great Tropical Drive.

* Catch up on more Aboriginal tourism product in the latest on-line edition of Selling Down Under