Michele Levine knows a thing or two about human behaviour and consumer trends. As CEO of Roy Morgan Research, Michele's bread and butter is asking questions of Australians to understand their values, what drives them, and what they want in life. 

In this episode of Talking Tourism, TICT's Emma Azon-Jacometti asks Michele what Roy Morgan's research is saying about peoples' intention to engage with the tourism industry. We're encouraged to hear that, as borders reopen, an appetite for travel - and travel to Tassie, in particular - is alive and well! 

Michele provides her hot tips on how to attract the lion's share of pent-up demand, including creating exceptional experiences that aren't afraid to price up. In Michele's words, visitors should leave Tasmania "full of experiences and memories, but with an empty wallet and a maxed-out credit card"! Listen in for this and other valuable insights from an expert who knows better than most what will drive tourists to our great state. 

Federal Group and the University of Tasmania have embarked on a groundbreaking research project that looks set to make precedent for further cooperative partnerships between the university and the Tasmanian tourism industry at large. 

In this episode, Tom Wootton lines up Dr Daniel Hanna (Executive GM Corporate Affairs, Federal Group), Dr Kim Lehman (Adjunct Senior Researcher, UTAS) and Monika Belhaj (PhD candidate, UTAS) to discuss Monika's years-long study into the unique offerings of storytelling hotel, MACq 01 . A long-term research project like this one isn't necessarily for every tourism operator, but its findings will be relevant to most. 

Unlike many PhDs, Monika's research has focused on an industry-defined question: How does experiential marketing influence customer perceptions of a hospitality-based product? Using MACq 01 as her guinea pig, Monika has discovered an approach that all tourism operators can use to tell their story and connect customers to place. They're tools that are arguably distinctive to Tassie, so listen in to understand how you can apply them to your product or experience. 

Amanda Vallis is founder and director of Vallis & Co., a Tasmanian-based communications agency specialising in public relations. So, what IS PR, and how can Tassie tourism operators use it to their best advantage?

In this episode of Talking Tourism, Tom Wootton gets the low-down from Amanda on how some savvy public relations moves can get your tourism product or experience in the hands, ears and eyes of your target audience in compelling, efficient and often low-cost ways. Amanda discusses how to write and execute a PR strategy - nail who you are, identify the most effective communication channels for your market, and deliver an elevator pitch that's honest and stands out from the crowd. 

Tom and Amanda also chat traditional vs. digital media, and touch on the power of influencers, and how they might just be the key to real return on investment. Listen in!

As Managing Director of Intrepid Group APAC, Sarah Clark knows all too well the impacts of a pandemic on the national and global tourism industry. Intrepid is the world's largest adventure travel company operating in 130 countries but, in March 2020, it went into crisis mode to get about 4,000 of its customers home from around the globe.

The good news? Sarah's outlook on a return to domestic and international travel says that Tassie is in good stead to make the most of a post-COVID recovery.

 In this episode of Talking Tourism, Sam Denmead asks Sarah what Tasmanian tourism operators can do to leverage their place on the international travel stage. Intrepid's unique relationships with travelling customers shows that people are looking to get out into nature, to get active, and to enjoy great food , beverage and cultural experiences. They're also more interested than ever in engaging with sustainable brands that are eco-conscious and even off-the-grid. Listen in for how you can make the most of these insights for your tourism business.

Access Intrepid Travel's 10-Step Guide To Decarbonise Your Travel Business here: chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/viewer.html?pdfurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.intrepidtravel.com%2Fsites%2Fintrepid%2Ffiles%2Fbasic_page%2Ffiles%2FIntrepid%2520Travel%2520-%252010-Step%2520Quick%2520Start%2520Guide%2520to%2520Decarbonise%2520Your%2520Travel%2520Business.pdf&chunk=true

Chris Davis is the General Manager and co-founder of The Van Diemen Project, who provide small to medium businesses and entrepreneurs with advice, mentoring and support to help them build and develop sustainable businesses. Jessi Mostogl is the Director of Schools & Curriculum at Illuminate Education Australia, a sister company to the Van Diemen Project. She is passionate about empowering people for the next generation, so that they can "believe in tomorrow, today".

Following their workshops at the 2021 Tasmanian Tourism Conference, Chris and Jessi sat down with Rachel Williams to discuss all things innovation processes and design thinking, and how they apply to the tourism industry. 

In this episode of Talking Tourism, you'll hear insights into how we can - and should - shift perceptions around employment within the visitor economy. Mark and Jessi believe we need to share stories about the industry with young people so that it's seen as more than just a "for now" prospect and, instead, an exciting and viable long-term career path. 

You'll also hear about how important it is to take a customer-centric approach to solving problems, with a looped process that ensures continuous improvement that has real impact where it matters. 

Katy Cooper has over 20 years' experience in a broad range of industries, including Tasmanian tourism and hospitality. As Head of Product at Neu21, she delivers leadership and futures thinking programs, focusing on finding new opportunities for innovation and growth. 

In this episode, Katy chats to Rachel Williams about whole systems innovation, and how it applies to the Tasmanian tourism industry right now. She explains how to define your business' inputs, elements, feedback loops and outputs, and why the relationships that sit around and within the whole system are critical to business success. Katy is a firm believer that Tasmania's unique competitive advantage of strong relationships and connection to place sets tourism operators in good stead to experiment with and influence outcomes for business and customer alike. 

As one of the keynote speakers at this year's Tasmanian Tourism Conference, Katy also brings her "futures thinking" to the discussion, exploring alternative futures through stories. With consideration to changing visitors, marketplaces, technologies and alternative realities, she encourages listeners to map their preferred future, even if it seems ridiculous now! 

This episode of Talking Tourism is sure to engage your imagination and tickle your curiosity, no matter what part of our great industry you're engaged in.

"If I had known what it was going to be like before I started, I never would have done it." 

It's a sentiment that a lot of us probably feel keenly right now (perhaps always!) and, for Joseph Burton, it sums up both his foray into owning his own business and the many twists and turns of a COVID-19 world over the past 18 months. 

As the first certified Sommelier in Tasmania and with 20 years of experience selling and serving wine under his belt, Joseph started his own wine wholesale, retail and events business in 2014. It was a tough slog to begin with, but his continued focus on customer service has seen the business grow over the past seven years, and is undeniably the reason Joseph Burton Wines remained afloat when 95% of its usual clients closed their doors during Tasmania's 2020 lockdown. 

Joseph pivoted quickly and effectively to selling wine direct-to-consumer, and launched "The House Wine", a weekly online wine tasting event, complete with wine delivered to your door. While this new model and market have created great ongoing opportunities for his business, Joseph believes that a flourishing tourism industry is still critical to its future viability. 

In this episode, TICT's Emma Azon-Jacometti chats to JB about his business' response to a new environment as a critical part of the tourism industry's supply chain, and the importance of storytelling when it comes to all things brand Tasmania.  

Madi Seeber-Peattie had been working in the events industry for more than 15 years when COVID-19 restrictions hit the industry hard. As owner/manager of Hobart's Farm Gate Market, Street Eats @ Franko and the Food and Beverage Collective, Madi lives and breathes mass gatherings. Her various ventures typically saw up to 10,000 people through the gates every week, and one of them depended entirely on interstate visitors. So what do social distancing and density restrictions mean for the mass gatherings world?

For Madi, it meant losing 85% of a market's revenue overnight, farewelling half of her core team, and cancelling a number of business events.  But it also meant finding innovative ways to offer essential services like a drive-through farm gate market service, strengthening relationships with suppliers, and tapping in to a Tasmanian market that was serious about supporting local. 

In this episode, TICT's Emma Azon-Jacometti chats with Madi about what COVID-19 has meant for large-scale events in Tassie, and discovers that there just might be more positive take-homes than you'd expect. 

Robbie and Emma Gilligan were all set to launch their new whisky brand, Derwent Distillery, right around the time COVID-19 shut down all notions of mass gatherings and traditional
cellar door promotions. 

So they got creative. Rather than launching face-to-face, they sent tasting packs around the world, and launched the brand to 1500 new digital friends, thus becoming the first distillery in the world to launch online. 

In this episode of Talking Tourism, Robbie shares the ups and downs of the past 18 months  with TICT's Emma Azon-Jacometti. It's both a realistic look at how critical a thriving tourism industry is to our grassroots operators, as well as a celebration of our great Tassie spirit. 

Straight out of the 2021 Tasmanian Tourism Conference held this week in Launceston, two of Tasmanian tourism's sharpest marketing minds, Tom Wootton and David Inches, talk through what tourism businesses should be doing right now to take-stock of their marketing plan and investments. 

Evolve Tourism's David Inches has over 20 years experience working with tourism businesses of all types and sizes in Tasmania and across the country, building and reviewing their marketing plans and on product development.

David was supposed to be delivering a workshop at this years conference on marketing planning - but he's in Cairns, which has been in lockdown. So we got him on the phone instead to share his insights to all our Talking Tourism listeners.

David steps through practically and simply  some of the questions every tourism operator should be considering in assessing and planning their marketing strategy and investments over the uncertain 12-18 months ahead.

This episode of Talking Tourism is hosted by Tom Wootton. Tom is CEO of West by North-West Tourism - the Regional Tourism Organisation of North-West and Western Tasmania.

Episode Note:

To take advantage of David's generous offer to access his online marketing program:  

• Visit www.tourismtuneup.com/
• Open Pricing and select Monthly Membership.
• Enter discount code ROI and click apply.

This will provide full access to the online marketing planning course, tourism marketing articles in the learning library and free monthly webinars.

Make sure you complete the reasons and belief worksheets that will be coming through via email on your 14 day induction.