Indigenous Tourism Businesses: An Exploratory Study of Business Owners ’ Perceptions of Drivers and Inhibitors

Abstract: Indigenous tourism has become an important, albeit niche, part of Australia’s tourism industry, supported by Federal, State and Territory governments seeking to leverage tourism as an economic opportunity for indigenous peoples while concomitantly providing a ‘product ’ point of difference for the country. While there have been a number of demand driven studies of indigenous tourism, with few exceptions, little attention has been given to supply side capacity and in particular, the nature, scope and development of indigenous tourism businesses. Indeed, little is known about the factors that drive or inhibit the development of these businesses. Therefore in-depth interviews were undertaken with seven indigenous tourism business operators from Queensland, Australia with the goal to explore indigenous tourism operators ’ perceptions of what constitutes drivers and inhibitors of their business. The main drivers of indigenous tourism businesses were found to include training and knowledge, product development and funding. Identifying and understanding these factors will assist business operators to effectively prioritize them and in turn, will be better equip indigenous tourism businesses to develop and operate in an increasingly global and competitive industry