The growth of Aboriginal tourism in remote Australia: Indigenist method for an operator perspective

ABSTRACT

This research supports the self-determined growth of marginalised remote Australian Aboriginal tourism and the people and communities that underpin it. The complex contexts from which Aboriginal tourism has grown has resulted in it being marginalised, suffering low domestic demand and receiving nominal academic attention. Aboriginal tourism operators have been particularly neglected in research. However, the disappearance of traditional international markets due to COVID-19 has brought into focus the need to better understand how to support the industry and build domestic demand. We adopt a ‘critical turn’ approach to researching remote Aboriginal tourism in order to deliver new growth perspectives centred on operator narratives. Our Aboriginal-led research adopts an Indigenist research method to examine nine operators’ experiences against marketing brand growth literature that is being applied for the first time in this context. The findings provide an understanding of diverse marketing issues. They privilege the operator voice and thus support their visibility, space and opportunity. We recommend continuing to centre operator perspectives in building and empowering the industry for future growth.

KEYWORDS:

• Aboriginal
• remote tourism
• Indigenist
• critical approach
• brand growth
• marketing

Introduction

Contemporary empirical knowledge continues to be built around academic disciplines, theoretical frameworks and methods that come from predominantly colonial/Western ways of knowing. These drive research agendas and the policies developed out of their findings (Bramwell et al., 2017; Kendall et al., 2011). Sustainable tourism research, however, has experienced a ‘critical turn’ away from this traditional knowledge-building approach, adopting a wider variety of theoretical perspectives and methods and putting a focus on challenging existing unequal-power relationships (Bramwell & Lane, 2014). This provides a voice for stakeholder groups that have been peripheral to key conversations, and encourages change and emancipation (Bramwell & Lane, 2014; Cole, 2014).

One such marginalised stakeholder group is the Aboriginal Peoples¹ in the land now known as Australia. There is thus a need to address the impact of colonisation and allow Aboriginal philosophy and knowledges to re-emerge (Watson, 2014). The ‘critical turn’ sustainable tourism literature offers an opportunity for such previously obscured perspectives to become centred (Mura & Wijesinghe, 2021), and that is the aim of this research. We adopt a ‘critical turn’ approach to examine the nature and development of Aboriginal remote tourism businesses, building on Whitford’s (2014) work and centring on marginalised tourism operators’ points of view. Led by an Aboriginal researcher, we bring a new Indigenist² research method to the issue, and analyse our results through the novel theoretical lens of marketing brand growth, which has not previously applied in this context, thus helping to break ‘interdisciplinary straightjackets’ (Chambers & Buzinde, 2015). This colonial/Western/economic growth perspective is underpinned by our belief that growth in the Aboriginal tourism sector remains a pathway for increased opportunities for the communities and people involved, and that marketing should positively contribute to this industry to atone for historic negative contributions such as the stereotyping of Aboriginal Peoples and perpetuation of the ‘tourist gaze’ (Everingham et al., 2021). We acknowledge the inherent tension this incomplete de-linking from Western epistemologies creates in our work, but argue that Western and non-Western knowledges, although functioning independently, can benefit from creative interconnectivity (Chambers & Buzinde, 2015), and that tourism research can benefit from engaging with some major themes and theoretical debates related to processes of globalisation, capitalism and structural power (Bianchi, 2009).

We draw on the narratives of nine remote Australian Aboriginal tourism operators to understand the ways in which they use marketing for business growth. In the main, the operators use marketing rhetorically rather than conceptually or instrumentally, as an after-the-event rationale for decisions. Their view of marketing is constrained, being piecemeal and tactical, and includes little overarching strategy for building longer-term growth or monitoring performance metrics beyond broad customer satisfaction. Relationships with key stakeholders that would provide much-needed Mental and Physical Availability are a clear area in which colonial/Western frameworks, views and goals have constrained the creation of appropriate brand growth opportunities for operators.

Finally, Aboriginal scholars must maintain Aboriginal protocol when writing on other Aboriginal groups (Martin, 2008). Accordingly, we acknowledge the Elders past and present and the living members of the Traditional Owners, associated groups and other Aboriginal residents within these lands that we write on and about.

Literature background

Aboriginal peoples and marginalisation

Indigenous Peoples have their own laws, cultures, languages and traditions that have governed them, and still do so today in many cases (Whitney, 1997). The Aboriginal Peoples considered Indigenous to Australia have inhabited Country for over 55,000 years (Australian Human Rights Commission, 2013). Colonisation has resulted in them experiencing well-documented injustice and disparity, with statistics reflecting that these continue to be experienced today. Aboriginal Peoples are less likely to be educated and more likely to be unemployed, to have lower wages when employed, to experience domestic violence and incarceration, and to die from preventable causes than non-Aboriginal Australians (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2020; Productivity Commission, 2021). This decades-long experience of systematic marginalisation and cultural oppression partly explains the incredible challenges faced by the Aboriginal tourism industry, which markets the same cultures and languages that were targeted in previous campaigns of cultural repression.

The Australian National Agreement on ‘Closing the Gap’ aims for ‘strong economic participation and development of Aboriginal Peoples and communities’ (Productivity Commission, 2021, p. 51). It is underpinned by the belief that better life outcomes can be achieved when Aboriginal Peoples are directly involved in the design and delivery of research, policies and programmes that affect Aboriginal Peoples, and recognises the need for structural change in the way governments work with Aboriginal Peoples. Yet despite these sentiments, the first annual tracking of progress towards the priority targets revealed disappointing results, conceding that governments and mainstream organisations still fail to recognise and invest in Aboriginal leadership and capacity.

This research seeks to help progress self-determined economic freedom for Aboriginal Peoples who have chosen to engage in business as a way of supporting their families, in the hope that such support will help Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians to care for their kin and Country with pride. It also seeks to move away from the deficit framing that has characterised much prior research with and for Aboriginal Peoples by centring the voices of remote Aboriginal tourism operators. This focus on the relatively neglected area of tourism production (Bianchi, 2009) can bring much-needed new perspectives to the existing research agenda (Cole, 2014).

Aboriginal tourism and the Australian market

The tourism sector has traditionally been one of the largest contributors to the Australian economy. Pre-COVID-19, tourism was ‘booming’, contributing over $57 billion in GDP to the Australian economy. Almost three quarters (74%) of the consumption and two thirds of the growth in tourism GDP came from domestic travellers (Tourism Research Australia, 2019). The importance of this cohort has been magnified by COVID’s impact on international tourism: the sector’s path to recovery will require understanding and fostering of this home market.

Within this wider tourism market sits the unique Aboriginal tourism sector. Recent data from Tourism Research Australia shows flat total numbers for Aboriginal tourism from 2008 to 2015, after which there was growth in the total market until COVID emerged (Tourism Australia, personal communication, March 23, 2022). Between 2008 and 2019, domestic market demand made up a growing proportion (37–50%) of total visitor numbers. However, what actually constitutes ‘Aboriginal tourism’ has varying definitions in academia, industry and government (Peters & Higgins-Desbiolles, 2012, p. 4). The Commonwealth definition, from which the main available industry statistics are derived, is very broad (Tourism Research Australia, 2010). It relies on the tourist’s self-identification of having participated in at least one of ten activities, from touring with an Indigenous guide to purchasing Indigenous art, craft or souvenirs, but does not require actual interaction with Aboriginal Peoples or economic gain for Aboriginal Peoples. Its usefulness is also constrained by limits on data granularity which would identify demand for specific activities such as engagement with Aboriginal businesses or remote Aboriginal tourism activities. Additionally, metrics on the non-economic, social outcomes of tourism are not collected, which constrains their use to within the established colonial/capitalist growth model (Table 1).

Table 1. Participation in Indigenous cultural activities.

Participation in Indigenous tourism (from 2008 to 2019)
Visitors (000)	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019
International	773	689	679	695	712	675	662	711	889	951	979	961
Domestic	459	373	318	353	357	477	571	550	689	732	761	975
Total	1232	1062	997	1048	1069	1153	1232	1261	1579	1683	1741	1936

The level of domestic consumer participation in Aboriginal tourism does not reflect the significant physical access advantage that domestic consumers have relative to international consumers. While remote areas see far more domestic tourists than internationals, few report undertaking Aboriginal tourism (Tourism Research Australia, 2011). Prior research has identified reasons for lower domestic consumer participation, including: stereotype-reinforcing former marketing campaigns (Higgins-Desbiolles, 2003; Pomering, 2010; Waitt, 1999), stereotyping negative media portrayals (Pomering, 2010; Tremblay & Pitterle, 2007), racism (Higgins-Desbiolles, 2003), myths (Jacobsen, 2007), negative product perceptions, the belief that all Aboriginal tourism offerings are similar (Ruhanen et al., 2013) and lack of interest (Ruhanen et al., 2015). However, the domestic market has untapped potential, with the number of tourists wanting to participate in an Aboriginal activity or experience outweighing the number actually participating (Australian Government, 2019). This makes it an attractive consumer group to grow. Additionally, as Galliford (2022) notes, the domestic tourism market provides an opportunity to inform the beliefs and attitudes of non-Aboriginal people, as each Aboriginal tourism experience on Country can support harmony and help reshape Australian nationalism (Galliford, 2010).

Remote aboriginal tourism

Around 80% of the Australian continent, from deserts to wetlands, is considered remote or very remote (Jacobsen, 2013). But there are acknowledged complexities in defining ‘remote’ Australia, as remoteness is not solely geographical in nature but also a question of closeness and access to infrastructure, essential services and convenient living conditions. Remote Indigenous tourism experiences additional challenges because of this remoteness (Tremblay & Pitterle, 2008):variable climate, labour and population shortages (Jacobsen, 2017), distant decision-making, distant markets, limited research knowledge, volatility in markets, policy and labour, and differences in traditional and local cultural knowledge (Fuller et al., 2005; Schaper, 1999; Smith et al., 2008). Consequently, remote Aboriginal communities are constrained in their ability to benefit from growth in the wider tourism sector (Williamson & Akbar, 2020). Yet the importance of Aboriginal businesses that provide culturally informed products and services across Australia is amplified in remote areas (Evans et al., 2021).

Aboriginal people also have under-recognised business skills and capabilities that deserve appropriate understanding and recognition (Ferguson et al., 2012), and as the body of literature and knowledge to support remote Aboriginal tourism operators in reaching potential consumers is still forming, a focus on this can provide new insights into established problems, as has been seen in other tourism stakeholder ‘critical turn’ research (Cole, 2014).

Aboriginal tourism operators

Aboriginal tourism has been charged with supporting economic self-determination for Aboriginal Peoples, and viewed as an opportunity for entrepreneurship for communities (Buultjens & Gale, 2013). Along with the Arts, it makes up a key component of Aboriginal industry, and consequently has been a target for continued growth efforts at all levels of Australian government (Buultjens & Gale, 2013). Bodies such as WINTA (World Indigenous Tourism Alliance) have been in existence for some time (2014 in WINTA’s case) to assist Indigenous cultures with tourism, and 2019 saw the federal government make available $40 million over four years to support Indigenous tourism businesses (Australian Government, 2019).

Tourism is often positioned as offering Indigenous people new social and economic opportunities (Fuller et al., 2005; Ryan & Huyton, 2002). Yet other agendas enforced on Aboriginal tourism, which include the provision of cultural services to the wider community, education about the world's oldest living culture, and the building of understanding, trust and social cohesion (Evans et al., 2021, p. 24), result in enduring and complex issues of their own (Banerjee & Tedmanson, 2010). While external forces are something all tourism faces, their impact can be both greater for disempowered Indigenous people, and further amplified by remoteness.

Calls for research to involve Aboriginal tourism operators have been documented for over a decade (Tourism Research Australia, 2010). In 2018, there were around 3600 active businesses with at least 50% Indigenous ownership and gross income of $4.88 billion, employing 45,434 people. This number had grown from a low base of just some 300 Aboriginal businesses, not all of which operated on a regular basis, in 2008 (Evans et al., 2021). Aboriginal tourism businesses are typically small-to-medium in size, with varying operational models and differing levels of Aboriginal ownership and management. Aboriginal-owned and -operated businesses have faced significant challenges due to COVID (Indigenous Business Australia, 2021), and now need to rebuild demand, especially in the domestic market (Everingham et al., 2021).

Marketing and remote aboriginal tourism

The need to assist Aboriginal tourism operators through improved marketing skills and capacity was noted over a decade ago by the federal government’s Business Ready Initiative for Indigenous Tourism (Buultjens & Gale, 2013), and more recently in research on demand for Aboriginal tourism (Ruhanen et al., 2015). Marketing has been identified as an important prerequisite for successful and sustainable Aboriginal participation in tourism (Fuller et al., 2005; Ryan & Huyton, 2000). Yet research on the marketing of Aboriginal tourism is a relatively new field with a scant knowledge base (Jacobsen, 2007; Tremblay, 2009; Williamson & Akbar, 2020). An obvious reason for this is the challenge of conducting remote research and obtaining respondents (Ruhanen et al., 2013; Smith, 2008). Yet without operator involvement, it is impossible to develop theoretically sound knowledge that will support economically viable cultural tourism. Therefore, the first step is to establish such an evidence base by building on the few remote studies (Jacobsen, 2017; Whitford & Ruhanen, 2014) already undertaken.

Over the last four decades, the adoption of a scientific approach to marketing has resulted in great advances, including the identification of consumer behaviour patterns that hold across multiple markets, over time and across countries (Sharp, 2010). These scientific marketing laws provide a picture of how buyers such as tourists choose between alternative options, and serve as a framework for guiding marketing efforts. However, despite their broad relevance – including to tourism – few practitioners use them as a guide to understanding the market, predicting buyer behaviour, or undertaking marketing activity and evaluation (Kennedy & McColl, 2012). This limits the opportunity for brands to achieve growth and creates frustration for marketers when their desired market response is not obtained. Additionally, the degree of operator understanding and application of marketing’s scientific laws in both Aboriginal business research more broadly and in the specific case of remote tourism operators is not known. This research therefore draws on the marketing brand growth theory of Mental and Physical Availability as the path to market share growth (Sharp, 2010; Sharp & Romaniuk, 2021 #88360) and examines operators’ understanding of these concepts and their application.

Weiss and Bucuvalas (1980) and Cornelissen and Lock (2002) propose three ways in which theory and research can be used by practitioners: instrumentally, conceptually and rhetorically. When used instrumentally (i.e. scientifically), they play an important part in directly achieving a result or accomplishing a purpose. Alternatively, they can be used conceptually to understand and anticipate real-world phenomena and thereby enhance practitioners’ abilities to do so. Finally, they can be used rhetorically to legitimise a course of action. In this research, we use these concepts to identify the ways in which the marketing brand growth theory is currently used by remote tourism operators.

Material and methods

Indigenist method as critical turn in aboriginal tourism research

Aboriginal Desert Languages contain the concept of Ngapartji Ngapartji, an approach and engagement based in reciprocity and co-operation. Roughly translated, it means, ‘I give you something, you give me something’, and supports consensus decision-making, moving together, and leaving no-one behind. After many years of rhetoric around ‘helping Aboriginal people’, there is now a push in Australian research and business discourse towards ‘working with Aboriginal Peoples’. In the same way that the Anangu principle of Ngapartji Ngapartji has been explored in relation to education research (Tur et al., 2010), we therefore examine it within business research.

While the wider social sciences and humanities have benefited from the recent exponential increase in research attempting to incorporate and learn from Indigenous knowledges and methods, within Australian tourism research such efforts have been limited (Ryder et al., 2020). Lester-Irabanna Rigney (1999) notes that the cultural assumptions peppered throughout dominant epistemologies in Australia take little account of Aboriginal perspectives, and Wilson (2001), an academic of Cree descent, calls for Indigenous academics to undertake research using an Indigenist paradigm in order to move beyond Western views with an Indigenous perspective. Research informed by the ‘critical turn’ has an interest in progressive societal change (Bramwell & Lane, 2014). It builds alternative ways of knowing and thinking to assist in transformation for improved social justice. In the context of tourism research, it can serve as a platform to regenerate both the physical body and the social conscience (Jamal & Hollinshead, 2001), offering an expanded role for tourism both in societies and in the wider global community (Galliford, 2022; Higgins-Desbiolles, 2003).

Indigenous philosophies and knowledges are core to Indigenous pasts and vital to Indigenous futures (Watson, 2014). A literature on Aboriginal philosophies continues to develop, with discourse around how Aboriginal Peoples view the world and how they would like to be viewed expanding. Undertaking research which focuses on positive outcomes for Aboriginal Peoples and privileges Aboriginal voices is a key element in the Indigenist research agenda (Rigney, 1999). This research therefore adopts an Indigenist research approach that privileges Aboriginal engagement within the research process. Foley (2000) was the first self-identifying Indigenous researcher to apply Indigenous philosophies to the Australian business research context; he argues that given Aboriginal Peoples’ centuries-long history as traders, this approach is well-suited to research on Aboriginal business.

This paper draws on Rigney’s (1999) work to enact Aboriginal philosophy within the research process. The principles foundational to this Indigenist method and adopted in this research are:

• Research is undertaken as part of the struggle of Indigenous Australians for recognition of self-determination. This research supports the sustainability of Aboriginal tourism organisations.

• Research has political integrity through being undertaken by Aboriginal Peoples and linked to the political struggles of Aboriginal Peoples. This research has an Aboriginal lead researcher and research questions that focus on increasing positive economic outcomes for Aboriginal communities. To ensure reciprocate knowledge sharing, during the pre-interview stage, the operator interviewees had input into the scope and focus of the interview questions, and each was also sent their summary of findings for comment and possible addition/amendment, along with the findings from the overall research project.

• Individual and collective Indigenous voices are privileged, with the research focuses on the lived, historical experiences, ideas, traditions, aspirations, dreams, interests and struggles of Aboriginal Peoples (Rigney, 1999). This research focuses on Aboriginal voices, with a minority of non-Indigenous included for their context-specific expertise, and is led by an Aboriginal researcher.

In keeping with the reciprocity element core of Indigenist methods, this research also forms part of a broader, long-term Indigenous-academic collaborative research project between the researchers and the Aboriginal tourism industry and its associated people and communities.

Research and self disclosure

Higgins-Desbiolles and Whyte (2013) note that ‘critical turn’ tourism scholars seldom come from communities of colour, and thus have not been critical enough of their own privileged position, rarely seeking collaborative opportunities with those from other backgrounds (Higgins-Desbiolles & Whyte, 2013). There is thus a need for greater engagement with Indigenous Peoples and epistemologies in the co-creation of tourism knowledge (Chambers & Buzinde, 2015).

Identity disclosure in Indigenous research is imperative, as it provides context and ensures culturally appropriate research (Ateljevic et al., 2005). This paper is a collaboration between an Aboriginal woman and non-Aboriginal woman, both working on Kaurna Country, South Australia. The first author identifies as being of the Waljen group of the North-Eastern Goldfields of Western Australia. Her lived experiences were deeply important to this research, which was only possible through her cultural positionality. This involved training her co-author on Indigenist methods and providing opportunities to be a research assistant on fieldtrips. The second author is a Pākehā (non-Māori) New Zealander and an Australian citizen with no known links or history to Country. The first author has been the cultural mentor of the second author in their joint academic collaborations for over ten years. The two authors acknowledge that the ‘complexities and messiness of coloniality’ (Everingham et al., 2021) have led to the hybrid nature of their own positionalities and their entanglements with coloniality. Although both the authors work within a University setting on Kaurna Country, they are committed to decolonising their research to the extent possible.

Sample & data collection

The researcher’s existing network was used to recruit respondents who were engaged in remote Aboriginal tourism and directly involved in the marketing of that business, consistent with Indigenist research methods (Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies, 2020). Six businesses were purposively recruited to reflect the variance that exists within the remote Aboriginal tourism industry (Bunten, 2010). All businesses were Aboriginal-owned; four were Aboriginal-operated (see Table 2). Their physical locations covered both desert and tropical remote locations in South Australia and the Northern Territory, which are key remote tourism markets. Nine respondents participated in semi-structured in-depth interviews.

Table 2. Respondent location and profile.

Respondent	Profile	Location
A1	Aboriginal business manager and owner	South Australia
B2	Aboriginal business manager and owner	Northern Territory
C3	Aboriginal business manager and owner	South Australia
D4	Aboriginal Cultural Services Officer	Northern Territory
E5	non-Aboriginal marketing manager	Northern Territory
F6	non-Aboriginal company co-director	Northern Territory
G7	Aboriginal business co-director and owner	Northern Territory
H8	non-Aboriginal marketing manager	South Australia
I9	non-Aboriginal business manager	South Australia

Prior to the interviews, in keeping with Ngapartji Ngapartji principles, the lead researcher used participant observation to experience tourism offerings alongside regular consumers for five of the six businesses (one had no tour availability during the data collection period). This gave her more detailed information than would have been possible in an interview alone (Bowen, 2002) and allowed her to go deep into the experience and make an interpretive rendering (Charmaz, 2000, p. 25), as well as detailed notes which heightened reflexivity (Charmaz, 2008). Participating in the tourism offering allowed her to not only assess the product but also demonstrate respect and appreciation to the respondents for their contributions (Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies, 2020), build trust and give back to community. Many respondents stated that the time on the tour together prior to an interview allowed them to better evaluate the researcher and the authenticity of her research (Martin & Mirraboopa, 2003). It allowed for appropriate introductions and discussions to establish heritage, connections and Country, provided a culturally safe space and allowed the operators input into the scope and focus of the interview questions. This transformed the interviews into dialogues, consistent with the ethical research conduct concept of ‘the seen face’ (Smith, 1999, p. 120) in Māori and other Indigenous research. This field approach has been noted in the marketing literature as being especially well suited to contexts where there is scant knowledge and much complexity (Bonoma, 1985).

For five of the businesses, data collection took place on Country, where the respondents’ businesses were operating. This required identifying appropriate times for research in order to avoid both peak tourist season and the tropical wet season, planning travel cost-efficient and time-effective travel, and ensuring remote data collection safety through 4WD recovery training. In total, the researcher took two 2620-km (approx. 1628-mile) flights and drove 1886 km (approx. 1160 miles) to undertake data collection, signalling integrity and commitment to privileging minority voices.

Data analysis

The interviews yielded approximately 15 h of recordings. Each interview lasted one to two hours. All interviews were conducted in English and Aboriginal English by the lead researcher, whose cultural background and experience helped ‘gain an insider’s depiction of the studied world’ (Charmaz, 2008, p. 21) and avoid an ‘outsider’s report’ (Charmaz, 2008, p. 21; Smith, 1999, p. 137).

The operators’ experiences were explored in depth using narrative inquiry. Thematic analysis was suited to analyse the narrative-rich data (Attride-Stirling, 2001), and uncovered both overt and latent themes (Buultjens & Gale, 2013). As Aboriginal English words and sentence construction were frequently used, and respondents’ language sometimes did not use the marketing terms commonly understood to describing marketing actions and functions, the free coding function in nVivo was used. A deductive approach predetermined by the lead researcher in relation to how they addressed the research question (Thomas, 2006) was then used to code the nodes. The qualitative findings are discussed under key themes. Quotes emphasise and privilege respondents’ voices. Respondents are identified by their location and profile number from Table 2.

Despite our explicit support for a decolonising agenda, we stop short of radical decolonisation (Chambers & Buzinde, 2015). We acknowledge the inherent epistemological conflict of continuing to use colonial growth theory as a key analytical framework. However, within the ‘ethical space’ we have created, we argue that such research can still result in meaningful convergence of knowledges (Western and Indigenous), informing a new order of research to ‘overrun the archaic ways of interaction’ (Ermine, 2007). That this research is led by an Aboriginal researcher contributes greatly to creating and upholding these ethical practices (Country & Lee, 2017).

Results and discussion

Marketing knowledge

Few remote Aboriginal tourism operators had marketing-specific roles, instead tending to be responsible for multiple business functions. While it is not uncommon in smaller businesses for employees to apply themselves to a wide variety of tasks (Bublitz & Noseleit, 2014), here marketing was being undertaken by people with few formal marketing qualifications: only one marketing manager held a qualification in marketing, while others adapted pre-existing skills from other areas:

I was everything (in the tourism operation), you name it! I washed the cars, I did everything in my job. I got Certificate II in Tourism, nothing in Marketing. (A1)

This in part reflects the acknowledged challenges in accessing skilled labour in such remote areas. This skilled labour shortage also saw many Aboriginal respondents holding roles for longer than non-Aboriginal respondents, as they were within their community rather than coming from ‘outside’. While this longer role tenure allowed for greater skill development, given the ‘on-the-ground’ learning focus, it was in a tactical rather than strategic role. This made both linking the business’s activities to wider stakeholder and industry strategic marketing initiatives and seeing the longer-term pay-off of marketing activities harder.

The respondents’ lack of formal marketing training is symptomatic of the general lack of resources in remote areas. Yet prior researchers have noted that Aboriginal entrepreneurial success requires access to business skills, knowledge and resources (Foley, 2003). Tourism training programmes specifically relevant to Aboriginal Peoples are required to unlock operators’ latent skills (Altman & Finlayson, 1992):

They [staff] are developing while they are working on the job some of them, you couldn’t even get a boo out of them … .. It was like that till we did the public speaking courses. (D4)

Without formal training, marketing can only be used rhetorically, as an after-the-event rationale for decisions. This view of marketing is constrained and piecemeal, and operates only at a tactical level, with no overarching strategy for building longer-term growth. The silence from respondents on industry bodies such as WINTA, which exist to assist businesses like theirs, is telling. The demands of day-to-day operation, and perhaps disenchantment with changing government policies and initiatives, appear to prevent more strategic investment in relationship-building with the organisations that could help respondents build the networks and skills required in remote Aboriginal tourism businesses.

Product and service offerings

All remote Aboriginal tourism operators referred to the strong base of cultural knowledge they used to develop market offerings and showed pride when talking about their business:

I thought about the things that I would like to do and from a young age touring around on my Country. (A1)

The product that we have comes from the heart, so it’s been handed down generations. It’s not what we read from books, most of it is from our memory and our hearts and our Old People. on the team there is me and brother X, he is an Elder. (D4)

They were united in seeing the quality of their product as their most important marketing asset. Product development was continuous but also unstructured and ad hoc, taking place primarily in response to market demand and lacking a considered portfolio view:

Initially … we found that there were people interested in rock art and so we put that on our program as a trial and certainly has attracted a lot of our customers. And then we noticed that people came along and would ask us about plants. We said ‘Okay, we’ll add that’ … We had no other model to get ideas from about what the customer wanted. (C3)

Industry support for marketing activities may help operators to streamline this ‘trial and error’ approach.

Marketing metrics and planning

The businesses lacked formal or measured marketing performance metrics. None kept any numerical record of visitors, which meant that the effect of marketing activities could not be evaluated and there was no evidence-based consumer behaviour data to draw upon for improvements. Formal tracking of the consumer decision-making process, or even average length of stay, would allow these businesses to understand how their efforts shape demand, which may be particularly important for remote and smaller businesses due to their minimal marketing budgets.

We haven’t done anything like that (asked for feedback or recorded consumer stats) so it’s just a rough estimation. (C3)

Despite a lack of formal training, operators did have a feel for where their efforts were paying off:

We are on Wotif and SiteMinder, travel auctions, and those things definitely do work because we see people booking. (I9)

They could also describe broad consumer characteristics, such as consumers’ typical level of education and primary motives for travel (i.e. if they were seeking cultural immersion). However, such demographic information was not formally recorded.

I classified them as a higher calibre of tourism experience seeker than your average yobbo. (A1)

While operators acknowledged marketing planning was important, none had plans with a horizon longer than one year. This supports previous findings that for many Indigenous entrepreneurs, planning is not formalised (Foley, 2003). The lack of structured planning meant that respondents could not comment on what strategies had led to their prior successes. Instead, they appeared to respond to marketing opportunities in an ad hoc way, as they arose – for example, when winning an award gained them new publicity opportunities, or a natural phenomenon allowed for a new product offering.

Prior research has identified that interest in Aboriginal business development by ‘outsiders’ commonly ceases after the first marketing plan is developed (Buultjens & Gale, 2013). For this reason, while all respondents felt that marketing planning was important, very few that had one on hand:

Marketing is subject to budget and Aboriginal involvement and varies from year to year. In the early days there was lots of marketing due to government grants, however, in recent years marketing is the website and direct sales only. (B3)

This absence of measurement, planning and review made understanding buyer behaviour more challenging. Yet there was consistency in the respondents’ reporting of the success of their marketing efforts. Customer satisfaction measured through informal feedback was a key metric, and this is one area where information was collected, typically informally via observation or by speaking with customers while on tour.

Mental availability

Mental Availability is a brand’s propensity to come to mind, or be noticed, in a buying situation (Romaniuk, 2018). Along and Physical Availability, it forms one of the two pillars of brand growth: if a brand is not mentally available, it does not have the chance to be considered by a buyer. Mental Availability is relevant to remote Aboriginal tourism businesses in two ways – at a category level, as part of all remote tourism and all Aboriginal tourism offerings, and at an individual level, with each business being one competitive brand within all remote Aboriginal tourism offerings.

While product development may be an organic process, individual operators clearly articulated the need to maintain consistency in their marketing efforts in order to grow market awareness:

You have to maintain a consistent positions over the years … people have to recognise it as the same place. We experience repeat customers, especially from intrastate, those people are repeat visitors. I think it’s a way of getting a country fix, if they live in the city and lead a busy life style they come out for a few days. (H8)

This is a positive finding, as branding consistency is a critical requirement for creating Mental Availability among potential customers. However, at a category level, remote Aboriginal tourism competes in both the wider Aboriginal tourism and remote tourism markets, where it faces barriers of brand rejection from the domestic market (Ruhanen et al., 2015). Respondents cited stereotyping, racially based government policy and negative media reporting as causes of negative brand perceptions and category rejection, which resulted in dysfunctional domestic industry relationships and low domestic consumer participation:

Australia’s campaign about Aboriginal Australia was pretty archaic … If you look at the marketing collateral for tourism Australia all they focused on was black people painted up and all in ochre and dressed like traditional savages … I’d be travelling around with them (tourists) … and they’d say ‘So when are we going to meet an Aboriginal person’ because they didn’t see me as the stereotyped image of Aboriginal Australia. (A1)

The wider remote Aboriginal tourism market faces the challenge of low awareness among potential buyers. Everingham et al. (2021) has noted the role of colonial mindsets in disabling non-Indigenous tourists from inherently engaging with Indigenous Peoples, cultures and histories in Australia (Everingham et al., 2021). Few remote travellers are aware of Aboriginal tourism product offerings and they are not usually the primary reason for remote travel (Ryan & Huyton, 2000). Research has also confirmed that participation by international visitors is more likely to be opportunity-driven than pre-planned (Ashwell, 2015). And all respondents noted the pre-COVID relative lack of domestic demand, especially compared to international demand. Some had specifically targeted their marketing efforts towards increasing domestic participation, while others had ceased to target the market. All respondents were able to articulate reasons for the low domestic market demand from the range already identified by previous authors. They shared a common sense of disempowerment and a lack of positivity when discussing their attempts to stimulate domestic remote tourism demand:

Internationals are more interested in Aboriginal culture, less likely to be bigoted old farts. (G7)

There was consensus that existing domestic market demand was so low that it was unprofitable to specifically target that sector. Previous efforts to grow domestic demand had not been fruitful. While respondents were interested in attracting more ‘ideal’ domestic tourists – i.e. people seeking a genuine cultural experience – they were uncertain as to how to do this:

When I did my research we didn’t focus on targeting our marketing to a domestic audience because it’s just a waste of time. (A1)

Only one, non-Aboriginal respondent mentioned plans to target the domestic remote tourism market and network with other remote tourism operators:

We are going to try to set up [organisation name] in the minds of a consumer as a destination. Give it a brand of its own, like how everyone would know about Uluru. Although we are not the only tour operator in the region, we are the biggest and the leader so we feel responsible for setting up a brand there and bringing all of the other tour operators benefit as well. (E5)

A key Mental Availability challenge for Aboriginal tourism is ‘rights to narrative’. At a brand level, remote Aboriginal tourism offerings most compete not only against each other for the tourist dollar, they also compete with non-Aboriginal operators offering products labelled ‘Aboriginal tourism’ because there is no regulation to prevent them doing so and low consumer awareness as to what constitutes an ‘authentic’ Aboriginal tourism experience. This practice has spread to intellectual property, knowledges and sites, and resulted in operators being forced to compete with products that lacked authenticity and were of inferior quality. The loose industry definition of what constitutes an Aboriginal tourism venture, combined with government and consumer expectations of an offering that conforms to their ‘white’ expectations (Banerjee & Tedmanson, 2010), has led to competition with ‘brands’ that are essentially taking economic opportunities from Aboriginal people. Barriers to entry to the category and how to best signal provenance to consumers were therefore key Mental Availability issues. Aboriginal operators all felt that the lack of any requirement for Aboriginal tourism content to be certified for its provenance and authenticity had hampered their competitiveness, and reported this as a lack of protection of Indigenous rights.

This ‘authenticity’ issue has received considerable attention in literature on other Indigenous cultures, such as New Zealand (Amoamo, 2008). Within Australia, broad parallel can be drawn with the Aboriginal Arts industry, where provenance has been the focus of discussion for some years. Art Centre provenance is seen by some as the ‘gold standard’, in which the principles of Aboriginal governance, community control, cultural maintenance and maximisation of economic returns to artists are key certification factors. As a brand protection measure this offers a broad roadmap for Aboriginal tourism, but it will require developing an understanding of consumer perceptions and finding a way to manage the more complex ownership and employment scenarios found in tourism in remote areas, such as Indigenous-owned operations that employ mostly non-Indigenous staff and non-Indigenous-owned (due to lack of resources at the community level) businesses operating with community consent and with the community as a key stakeholder:

I liken the scenario … to what happened in the Aboriginal Art industry 25 years ago. When Aboriginal art was booming there were a whole lot of non-Aboriginal people doing Aboriginal art and fraudulently palming it off and then the Government regulations and measures to make sure that Aboriginal art that was genuine came in, and this is what is happening right now with Aboriginal tourism; the bad bit. (A1)

Suggestions put forward to address this have included registration in the Australian Tourism Data Warehouse (ATDW), with the Warehouse playing a gatekeeper role for wholesale buyers:

The problem is [ATDW] doesn’t tell if it’s an Aboriginal operator and Aboriginal-owned or anything. There are so many holes in it. It’s a real problem. (A1)

Physical availability

Physical Availability is about ease of purchase, and refers to not just a brand’s physical location, but its online presence and continuity of availability. While remote operation brings challenges in terms of the time and effort needed to access products, respondents also cited location as being key to successful operation, indicating that the natural assets and resources unique to each area were ripe for development/inclusion in culturally informed tourism products. When executing marketing activities, however, they saw seasonality and rare weather events such as extreme heat or floods that interrupted continuity of supply more as challenges than as opportunities, such as to see wildflowers after rare rains.

The seasonality of the business is a challenge, especially in the northern part of South Australia, it can be quite hot in the summer, it is one of the difficult things to get over in the regional areas as people tend to go to the beachside in the summer time. (H8)

The wet season is traditionally a lull and everybody shuts shop and says they are closed. But we aren’t. We are open and accessible all year round which is unique for the top end. (E5)

Respondents saw their online presence as part of their Physical Availability, recognising that websites and online booking capabilities were vital to gaining consumers, but did not see having accessible and effective marketing as an aspect of availability as such. As Sirakaya and Woodside (2005) notes, however, this is critical to growing tourism demand. This highlights the need for operators to better understand how tourists seek product information.

For remote tourism, Physical Availability includes some specific considerations. Remoteness brings with it challenges such as maintaining adequate staff numbers to offer quality and consistency of service and adequate access to infrastructure during events. An additional consideration was the management of strategic partners such as organisations offering accommodation on journeys to and from sites. These resources were necessary, but beyond the operators’ control, and could impact their businesses unexpectedly, as happened during the Kati Thanda-Lake Eyre flooding:

There were more domestic tourists travelling to see Lake Eyre … which caused me some stress because the accommodation that I was using on a regular basis was being booked up by big tourism companies because it was their staging point for the night. (A1)

Operators also noted that these relationships were volatile and usually short-lived, citing differences in goals and approaches and policy changes as key reasons for this lack of longevity. Non-Indigenous respondents were more likely to view their relationships with government as being functional and effective:

The (SA) Tourism commission distribute our brochures in their distribution outlets all over the place. Or I think they do. I don’t see the tourism commission really … . I don’t know what we have done to get them off-side. (C3)

There was evidence of positive relationships with key tourism bodies:

We have always worked well with the government of the day, the state government tourism department and tourism Australia and that’s important because they have the ability to spend on media. If you get a journalist here you might get 20 or 30 thousand dollars of marketing done if they do a good story in an airline magazine or other magazines that sits on peoples’ coffee tables. (H8)

This, however, did not extend to non-tourism stakeholder businesses:

When you work with companies in Australia they look at Aboriginal businesses and they are like ‘Oh, no, you aren’t competent, you aren’t really worth going to’. Because it’s a one man band they think they can’t trust it and they go with someone else. (F6, G7)

This experience appears similar to the inequity experienced by Aboriginal businesses across Australia as a whole. Overseas stakeholders’ additional requirements for capacity and tenure of relationship before investing in market development formed another hindrance to growing Physical Availability.

I got no German customers at all and then I would actively seek meetings and appointments with them and after the second and third year I would say to the ‘I met with you last year and the year before and you still aren’t selling my product’ and they said ‘We want to make sure that you are genuine and consistent’. (A1)

Overall, the respondents’ strategic view of Physical Availability was fragmented and tactical, with little mention made of key industry bodies as partners who could link them to wider markets. Efforts to expand Physical Availability tended to be ad hoc and in response to opportunity, rather than planned. The additional complexities of physical distance from their markets and reliance on intermediaries caused lags between capacity building and demand and was a key area of concern and frustration.

Discussion and implications for remote aboriginal tourism

Tourism is often positioned as an opportunity for Indigenous Peoples to participate in colonial economies. However, the additional challenges faced by colonised groups are regularly glossed over. As cyclic political settings impact tourism policy and tourism business sustainability, policy settings must be optimised with an inclusive long-term strategy to support business growth for remote Aboriginal tourism operators. In addition, industry-based practitioners require meaningful metrics and academic findings to support and elevate their industry activities. In particular, Indigenous Peoples who are transforming culture into a product for tourism purposes face unique and difficult issues, which are unfortunately often unsupported and under-researched.

This research has established that remote Aboriginal tourism operators are proud of their quality, culturally informed product offerings. They undertake a range of marketing activities to stimulate market demand and have a desire to improve their marketing both in general and to domestic consumers specifically. Our findings highlight the need for a consistent and constant presence in tourism marketing communications to build Mental Availability from a low base. However, this will require an industry-wide approach, with leadership roles taken by both individual businesses and geographic alliances, and government support in the context of appropriate policy settings. Key to this approach will be ensuring that governments which direct and support wider tourism campaigns understand the importance of consistent messaging and building Mental Availability for remote Aboriginal tourism as a brand within both the Aboriginal tourism and the remote tourism markets. The impacts of inconsistent, haphazard and ‘last frontier’-type messaging on remote Aboriginal tourism need to be rethought and the impacts of the ‘cyclic’ nature of government-run tourism campaigns addressed.

Post-COVID, as borders reopen, we can see positive steps being taken by the industry. The Northern Territory’s 2020–2030 plan for Aboriginal tourism makes Mental and Physical Availability central to future planning in a way that will benefit remote Aboriginal offerings. It has five strategic pillars, with Physical Availability captured through its ‘living landscapes’ pillar which seeks to improve ‘access and services to destinations’, and Mental Availability through its ‘living communities’ pillar, which aims to ‘strengthen knowledge and understanding in Aboriginal people across networks’. However, more examples of such embedding of strategic marketing’s role in planning and targets are needed.

In addition to clear and concise messaging to build Mental Availability, further understanding of how consumers plan and undertake experiences is needed.

Conceptual use of theory

The development of meaningful and evidence-based conceptual theory on marketing culturally informed products will support Aboriginal businesses by offering strategic-level information for consideration and implementation at industry level using place-based approaches. Increasing the exposure of Aboriginal business in quality journals also offers an opportunity to draw knowledges together across business disciplines to support practitioners in overcoming the challenges unique to culturally based businesses, remote businesses and businesses that are both. This bringing-together of industry and academic disciplines will bring more value to research outcomes, and have more real-world research impact. However, this effort will only be meaningful if academia does the work to ensure that the knowledge developed is communicated to practitioners, and industry is supported in enacting new knowledge and measuring the impact of changes in ways that matter to the community.

Instrumental use of theory

The findings demonstrate that while theoretical marketing concepts such as Mental Availability are not the main driver of operator decision-making, they are applied through tactics that influence practitioners’ decision-making. This strengthens the idea that the industry-based knowledge of practitioners and evidence-based academic marketing theory can work together to support small and unique industries. This may be even more important in industries such as remote Aboriginal tourism, where operators face additional challenges such as discrimination and remoteness. Attention must be therefore given to supporting practitioners in remote areas with limited access to urban knowledge-sharing gatherings in accessing, interpreting and integrating evidence-based academic findings into actionable business growth strategies.

Rhetorical use of theory

Our findings establish that some academic research, such Physical Availability being a key growth pillar, is used by practitioners in a rhetorical sense, i.e. to justify a focus on websites to increase the Physical Availability of their remote markets. Similarly, practitioners are using syndicated research (e.g. ratings, psychographic and lifestyle data) to justify courses of action and provide a level of accountability for their decisions, but this is primarily at the request and provision of peak tourism bodies. This is another way in which academic research can support Aboriginal tourism and the people and communities that support and underpin it.

Conclusion

Overall, this research shows that as an industry group, remote Aboriginal tourism operators face many challenges which leave them working harder while being less empowered to gain knowledge on what parts of their marketing activities and strategies are reaching tourists, and why. Undertaking a study focusing on the marketing activities of remote Aboriginal tourism operators has developed rich findings which contribute to a potential path forward, as studies centring the perspectives of industry-based operators empower the operators and enable academia and industry to foster better understandings of the issues they face in marketing their business and to develop local solutions.

This research highlights the need for continued work on developing a body of evidence-based academic findings to support remote Aboriginal tourism operators, including an understanding of the relationships between Aboriginal remote tourism operators and key industry bodies. These relationships are critical gateways to market demand and enable operators to leverage industry-wide marketing efforts. To date, however, little is known about their operation and effectiveness, except, as found in this research, that it has a difficult and fragmented history.

Future research must also examine the demand side, especially the impact of COVID and increased domestic tourism on the industry and consumer perceptions. Empowering Aboriginal tourism stakeholders throughout this development of knowledge and supporting them in implementing evidence-based knowledge to grow their tourism businesses will also help broker knowledge transfer for the benefit of practitioners, academics and tourists.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was funded by the University of South Australia through the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute for Marketing Science and the Cooperative Research Centre for Remote Economic Participation.

Notes on contributors

Skye Akbar

Skye Akbar is a Researcher and Educator at UniSA Business, University of South Australia. Skye applies her experience with focus on supporting the wellbeing of local peoples through improved understanding of how self-determined sustainable community economic development can be best achieved. She works to support evidence-based decision making that can nurture context and culturally informed local solutions to local problems.

Anne Sharp

Anne Sharp is a Professor of Marketing at the University of South Australia. Her work focuses on brand growth and sustainable marketing. She teaches market research and is a founding researcher of the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute for Marketing Science, University of South Australia.

Notes

1 In this article, the term ‘Aboriginal Peoples’ refers to the diverse Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples from the land now known as Australia.

2 Indigenist is the term used by its founder, (Rigney, 1999) to describe the philosophical approach, as one would use the term feminist research.