Australian Indigenous Tourism: Why the Low Participation Rate from Domestic Tourists?
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Australian Indigenous Tourism: Why the low participation rate from domestic tourists? Trinidad Espinosa-Abascal (B.A. Finance & Accounting; M.Sc. Quality Systems & Productivity) College of Business, Victoria University Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements of the Master of Business [by research] June, 2014 i Preface Red dots, yellow dots, orange dots. Dots, dots, dots. Although the story I am going to tell you is very personal, quite subjective, and has been altered due to the passage of time and loss of memories, it is nonetheless important in terms of setting the scene for the thesis which follows. Everything started on the twenty-third of February in 2009 when I first landed in Australia from my home country of Mexico. I arrived into the hot summer of Melbourne: full of festivals, happy people, lots of colour, and printed with the happiness of a reconciliation process derived from Prime Minister Kevin Rudd´s apology to the Aboriginal people. I have to confess I wasn´t completely aware of the situation of Aboriginal people in Australia; I think not everybody was, not even now. My first experiences in Australia were perfect, except perhaps for the fact that I didn´t encounter any of the native people that I was expecting to meet. Where were they? I saw art galleries and souvenir stores. There were dots everywhere decorating boomerangs, didgeridoos, even key-rings. But, where were Aboriginal people? A friend told me that I had to go north to experience a more cultural encounter. So I departed to Sydney. I have to confess that he was right. Close to the “circular quay”, I saw two Aboriginal people wearing traditional clothes, decorated in white body-paint, and playing the didgeridoo. After that moment I decided to explore Australia more broadly in the hope to hear and experience the stories of the longest living culture in the world. I travelled to the Pinnacles Desert near Perth, the Great Barrier Reef off Cairns, Fraser Island, and I flew to the south coast of Tasmania. But nothing. Not even one Aboriginal friend or an Aboriginal guide. Just dots. Dots in every museum I visited, dots in every market I went, dots on every souvenir I bought. Taking my last leap of faith I decided to go to the outback, where I visited the iconic Aboriginal sacred site: “Uluru”. It was my first experience admiring the rock-art paintings and listening to some stories about the “dreaming”. However, despite being a place well known for its aboriginal population, our ii guide was not an Aboriginal person. The story at the cultural centre was slightly different, though. There was a section within it where Aboriginal artists were creating art. Nobody talked to them, and they didn‟t talk to us. It felt like although we were in the same place, we weren‟t “together”. Perhaps this experience, in some small way, describes the history of Australia over the past two hundred years. Will full reconciliation ever happen? Is the combination of tourism and art one of the tools for this to occur? I did not know the answer at that time. Five years later, I am still unclear. Dots still appear to dominate. iii Abstract Tourism is often promoted as a development tool for Indigenous communities. However, Tourism Research Australia shows that domestic demand for Australian Indigenous tourism products, in comparison to four other types of mainstream tourism, is quite low. To explore why domestic visitors are less engaged in Indigenous tourism than other tourism types, this study adopts a mixed-methods case study approach. Semi-structured interviews using sorting-ranking photo-based procedures were conducted with 52 domestic visitors at Halls Gap, within the Grampians National Park, Victoria, Australia. The findings suggest that domestic visitors‟ preferences for Indigenous tourism activities are inconsistently distributed. While many domestic visitors are willing to visit the rock-art sites, they are less interested in experiencing the cultural centre. Despite these differences in preferences, the motivations for engaging in both activities are similar. These motivations are: Learning, connection with history/land, appreciation, learning opportunities for children, explore/discovery, understanding, physical challenge/adventure, and reflection. However, domestic visitors at the destination under investigation are more willing to experience rock-art sites, as they perceive it to be an activity that is more connected with history/land, that involves physical activity and that feels more authentic. Two types of barriers –internal and external- when engaging in these activities are identified. The internal barriers are: Lack of interest, prefer other activities, saturation, and limited time available. The external barriers identified are: Inauthentic/passive, not being in the target audience, lack of awareness, boring, and indoor activity (mentioned as a barrier to participating in the cultural centre). This study proposes that Australian Indigenous tourism strategies look beyond the creation of Indigenous tourism products such as cultural centres, and consider focussing on those areas that can have a more significant impact upon the domestic tourism participation rate in Indigenous tourism. This focus includes marketing strategies directed to the domestic target market, training, iv and further developing points of differentiation between Indigenous cultures in Australia. v Master by Research Declaration “I, Trinidad Irene Espinosa Abascal, declare that the Master by Research thesis entitled “Australian Indigenous Tourism: Why the low participation rate from domestic tourists?” is no more than 60,000 words in length including quotes and exclusive of tables, figures, appendices, bibliography, references and footnotes. This thesis contains no material that has been submitted previously, in whole or in part, for the award of any other academic degree or diploma. Except where otherwise indicated, this thesis is my own work”. Signature Date vi Acknowledgements During my Masters journey I have experienced several feelings all together: From challenge and frustration to excitement and happiness. It has been a two year period of personal and professional continuous growth. However, I have not been alone. Colleagues, friends and family have made their important contribution for this experience to be successful. First and primary, I would like to thank my supervisors. To my primary supervisor, Dr Martin Fluker, and to my associate supervisor, Dr Min Jiang, thank you both for your constant support and enthusiasm all through this project. Thank you for being there with ideas, advices, and constructive criticism; those were essential for this study. But specially, thank you for making this experience an enjoyable one. Special thanks to the people who contributed to the operational side of this project. Thanks to Victoria University Postgraduate Research Centre for the financial support given to me. In particular, I would like to thank Tina Jeggo for her ongoing support and time answering my numerous questions. I also thank Dr Niel Diamond, Associate Professor Charles Lawoko and Dr Lindsay Turner for their statistical guidance. Special thanks to Dr Brian King and Dr Denis Tolkach for their direction at the beginning of my journey. And I would like to thank Professor Ron Adams and the writing retreat team for an incredible growing experience. Further, this research would not have been possible without the assistance of the friendly staff of the Halls Gap & Grampians Visitor Information Centre. Finally, thanks to all the participants that kindly agreed to take part in this study. Last but definitely not least, I would like to thank my partner Kerim, my mom Paty, my sisters Maria and Paty, and my cousin Yasset. Even if you don‟t fully understand what the project is about, without your constant love and support this journey wouldn´t be as gratifying as it was. Gracias. vii Publications Associated with this Thesis Refereed Journal articles: Espinosa-Abascal, T., Fluker, M., & Jing, M. (2014). Domestic demand for Indigenous tourism in Australia: Understanding motivations, barriers, and implications for future development. Journal of Heritage Tourism. Approved for publication. doi: 10.1080/1743873X.2014.921183 Conference Papers: Espinosa, T., Fluker, M., & Jing, M. (2014). Using photographs to investigate domestic demand for Indigenous tourism in Australia. Refereed working paper presented at CAUTHE Conference. February 2014 Brisbane, Australia. viii Table of Contents Preface ................................................................................................................ ii Abstract .............................................................................................................. iv Master by Research Declaration ........................................................................ vi Acknowledgements ........................................................................................... vii Publications Associated with this Thesis .......................................................... viii Table of Contents ............................................................................................... ix List of Tables .................................................................................................... xvi List of Figures ................................................................................................... xix List of Acronyms .............................................................................................