Austrade
Rollout of the National Sustainability Framework for the Visitor Economy & the Sustainable Tourism Toolkit
We were engaged by the Australian Government from February to June 2024 to deliver a series of presentations, workshops and webinars to activate a national rollout of the new National Sustainability Framework for the Visitor Economy and Sustainable Tourism Toolkit, to inspire the adoption and utilisation of the Toolkit by the Australian tourism industry.
^ Nic, Paige, Jaci, John Parlett & Myv Costello (Austrade) and Rebecca at Tourism Australia's RTO Forum, March 2024.
Program Details
Stage 1 - Inspiring Action with Australian Destination Leaders
The project commenced with an interactive and hands-on workshop at Tourism Australia’s Destination Australia RTO Forum, where the majority of Australia’s Regional Tourism Organisations were introduced to the Framework and Toolkit. Time was spent by the RTOs in groups to start brainstorming how they could start using the Toolkit
Over the following 3 months, 8 workshops (6 in-person, 2 online) were delivered to State, RTOs and industry associations. An additional 1-hour online ‘catch-up’ session was facilitated to those who couldn’t attend their local State/Territory based workshop.
We developed a bespoke training workshop deck for the Destination Leaders training, which was tweaked and tailored to each State/Territory local sustainability context.
The goal of the Destination Leaders Workshops was to empower RTOs on the ‘what’ and ‘how’ of the Toolkit to progress their local industry on the sustainability journey, along with change management and local leadership inspiration. Some states also used the workshop as the opportunity to bring in other key local Sustainable Stakeholders (eg Sustainability Victoria) to also share updates on local programs RTO’s could use to support their industry to progress sustainability. A quick wins checklist was shared after the workshop to to guide attendees on quick wins they could do to support industry.
Results
- Over 200 tourism leaders from all corners of Australia, from STOs, RTOs, Councils and Industry Organisations joined one of the TTT workshops live.
- When asked “How confident they feel in supporting tourism businesses to take action on sustainability in their businesses”, prior to the workshop, only 35% of participants felt ‘fairly confident’ or ‘completely confident’. At the completion of the workshop, this increased to 72%.
- Participants rated the TTT workshop 8 out of 10 in helping them understand sustainable tourism. (1 not at all, 5 = neutral, 10 = significantly improved)
- Participants rated the TTT workshop 8 out of 10 in motivating them to take action on sustainability in their region. (1 not at all motivating, 5 = neutral, 10 = extremely motivating).
What were the best things about the TTT Workshops?
- “Presented by knowledgeable, experienced professionals and highlighted different stages of the sustainability journey with practical hints, examples and resources.”
- “Collaborative discussions... a reminder that we ourselves need to walk the talk”.
- “Learning from peers! Ultimate inspiration.”
- “The activities that gave us tangible ways to start making change.”
- “In-person conversations - diversity of attendees”
- “I think it was a perfect mix of content and interaction. I liked that rather than just paraphrasing key points of the toolkit it provided tips on how to activate it”.
^ Paige & Rebecca with all of WA's RTOs presenting the Train the Trainer workshop in Perth.
Stage 2 - Inspiring Tourism Businesses to use the Toolkit
Inspiring Australia’s tourism businesses to use the Toolkit to progress sustainability was the second priority for the Program.
To do this, we developed and facilitated bespoke training webinars which are with filled case studies of businesses taking action on the different focus areas within the Toolkit.
We worked closely with Austrade to develop a communication process and messaging to enable the webinars to be promoted Australia-wide. As of mid-2024, over 2,000 tourism businesses have engaged with the webinars.
Austrade has reported a significant increase in website traffic to download the Toolkit and engage with the online version of the Toolkit since we have delivered the Program.
Results
After watching the webinars life, participants recorded significant growth in confidence and knowledge on the principles of Sustainability after the webinars.
Webinar Feedback
- “Just for feedback purposes, the use of examples through the deck is fantastic :)”
- “Very good! I am currently doing the Earth Check qualification so this is good support to keep me going and align this path and it will be worth it.”
- “Great to see the variety of sustainability ideas from other operators”.
- “Thank you guys - awesome content! You guys find excellent examples.”
- “Thanks so much, Nic and Rebecca - what an informative session. I hope to share my sustainability journey with guests to encourage a behaviour change. I'd like to also incentivise cyclists by offering a reduced fee for staying at my accommodation in Woodbridge, Tas. Thanks again - so worthwhile!”
- “Much more confident! Thanks.”
- “Thanks so much, guys! Amazingly great session :)”
- You guys smashed it! Excellent job!
They were all extremely informative with relatable examples of changes that we could easily implement across our business to improve our sustainability efforts and the ways in which we communicate these with our ballooning passengers.
I wanted to extend our sincere thanks for the Sustainable Tourism Toolkit webinar series delivered by the Tourism Collective. The tips and guidance we gained from the webinars and the opportunity to ask questions of the Tourism Collective team afterwards, was incredibly helpful as we reviewed our environmental management plan and worked towards our long term goal of gaining certification with EcoTourism Australia for which Balloon Aloft was ultimately successful.
^ Nic & Paige with a huge QLD contingent in Brisbane Train the Trainer workshop.
Next Steps
There was significant positive feedback, goodwill and motivation to progress sustainability from all levels of the industry, however the Program highlighted ongoing challenges in governance, leadership and roles and responsibilities that need to be reconciled to accelerate the industry’s collective sustainability journey.
To help address some of these challenges, next step recommendations were delivered as part of the final project reporting, key opportunities were identified to embed the National Sustainable Framework for the Visitor Economy and to continue the momentum of industry activation of the Toolkit, and additional actions to support and empower Australia’s states and regions to accelerate the Australian tourism industry’s sustainable journey.
Our Reflections
- The project was a highlight for our team in 2024 as it was aligned to our Vision, Mission and Impact Areas.
- While we know so much change is needed to transition Australia’s tourism industry to be a sustainable tourism global leader, this was a catalysing project that we know started many new connections and conversations and new thinking between people across all areas of government and industry.
- We were also able to shine the light on the many businesses that are already leading from the front with incredible sustainable tourism experiences and Regional Tourism Organisations leading their local industry to a more sustainable tourism future.
- We will be checking in with Regions towards later 2024 on what actions they have taken since the training, so stay tuned for updates to longer-term impacts.
^ Nic & Rebecca in Canberra, Rebecca and Nic in Melbourne with Myv Costelloe (Austrade) and Dani Tyrrell (DJSIR), and Rebecca & Paige in Tassie with the RTO teams presenting the Train the Trainer Workshop.