The Tourism Collective Team
Our team are lifelong tourism people and between us, we bring decades of experience working across regional, remote, and urban destinations, with state, regional and local governments and the private sector across both the supply and demand sides of the visitor economy.
We live and breathe our values and share our vision to enable tourism for a better future. We value the connections we have with our peers and absolutely love the work we are able to achieve in partnership with our clients.
paige rowett
MANAGING DIRECTOR
Specialist Areas
- Destination Stewardship
- Positive Impact, Sustainable & Regenerative Tourism
- Visitor Economy Measurement
- Regional Tourism Governance
- Destination Marketing
- Cx Design for Visitor Experiences
- Community and Industry Engagement
- Strategic Visitor Economy Projects
- Destination Marketing Planning and Implementation
Growing up on a farm on South Australia’s Eyre Peninsula, and now managing a mixed farming enterprise with my family in the Clare Valley, I’ve always been deeply connected to the rhythms of regional life. That connection has shaped not just who I am, but how I show up for my community and in my professional life.
At my core, I’m a passionate country person with a clear personal and professional purpose - to help grow sustainable, thriving regional communities so that my children, and future generations, can continue to live and work successfully in rural Australia.
I bring over a decade of experience in strategic planning, facilitation, and stakeholder engagement, working alongside governments and industry to reimagine how tourism can be a force for good. My approach is values-led, practical, and grounded in a deep respect for place and people.
Together with my family, we are 5th-generation farmers, owning and managing Mernowie Poll Merinos sheep stud, along with a mixed broadacre program operating as Rowett Partners Pty Ltd.
Community leadership is very important to me. I serve as President of the RSMU Netball Club, have been a proud committee member for 18 years, and recently joined the Walara Board - a not-for-profit supporting aged care services across the Yorke and Mid North region. Whether through professional or volunteer roles, I’m committed to helping communities build capability, collaboration, and confidence.
As a family, we are loving getting out and exploring all that Australia has to offer!
Our recent trips include a week over in Southern WA around Busselton and Margaret River, a week exploring Cairns and Tropical North Queensland, and we're currently planning a big caravanning trip over to Canberra for the Summer of 2026/7.
As a family, we have a growing list of places around Australia that we can't wait to explore. Heading home to the pristine Eyre Peninsula beaches is always on my list, and a ski trip to NZ is definitely on the cards soon - maybe even winter next year!
REBECCA WHITE
MANAGING DIRECTOR
Specialist Areas
- Destination Stewardship
- Positive Impact, Sustainable & Regenerative Tourism
- Visitor Servicing
- Destination Storytelling
- Cx Design for Visitor Experiences
- Inbound, International Marketing and Distribution
- Stakeholder Engagement
- Industry Capability Building
- Economic Development
I've had the privilege of working across the tourism ecosystem for over 2 decades, however, my mindset toward tourism has changed in recent years as become more aware of the increasingly complex challenges we face as humanity.
Travel is a true privilege, not a right. And while it has great potential to help solve the many crises we face, it must only happen in a place where it is leaving the local communities and precious ecosystem it operates in better than it found it.
What this looks like for me is combining my decades of existing tourism knowledge and relationships, with newer learnings and lived experience, to help tourism leaders across government, regional tourism organisations and businesses bring a positive impact lens to all they do - helping them to co-create responsible, resilient and outcomes in their roles or businesses that are not just economically sustainable, but also give back to their local communities and support environmental regeneration.
I've been a passionate food and flower gardener since a kid, growing vegetables and flowers for my family, friends and local community. Building the soil health, biodiversity and climate resilience of my urban block is a constant work in progress, for example I have many, many compost bins that return nearly my family's food and organic waste from our busy family back to the soil for the next growing season.
Keep an eye out for my homegrown Tourism Collective seeds which we share throughout the year where we can can.
I am drawn with every chance I get to travel to nature and outdoors, particularly where you can see and feel true wilderness and power of nature.
Tasmania has a special spot in my heart and one our family returns to when we can. Its temperate forests, pristine alpine landscapes and spectacular lakes, waterways and coastal landscapes keep me reminded of why I do the work I do, and how travel has the potential to help be part of the climate and biodiversity solution, by helping people connect with these special places so they can take that learning home to their day to day lives.
From a cruise into the Franklin Gordon River, kayaking the remote Pieman River in Corinna, hiking the stunning alpine region's of Mount Field's Tarn Shelf track, stand-up paddleboard at the Freycinet Peninsula, walking the stunning beaches of Bay of Fires, cycling through the forests of Derby to hiking the magical landscapes of Cradle Mountain are some of my recent Tasmania'a highlights with my active teenage boys and husband.
My two sons love anything active and adventurous, so my husband and I take our boys camping, hiking, kayaking and cycling as often as we can – we have a long Australian and New Zealand travel bucket list we are working through.
JACLYN THORNE
MANAGING DIRECTOR
Specialist Areas
- Stakeholder Engagement
- Destination Stewardship Planning
- Visitor Economy Measurement
- Regional Tourism Governance
- Market and social research
- Data analytics
- Cx Design for Visitor Experiences
- Community and Industry Engagement
- Strategic Visitor Economy Projects
- Local Government
- Regional workforce
My job, career and life passion are all interconnected, and I absolutely love contributing to the development of world class experiences and help plan for sustainable growth in regional destinations.
My career in tourism started in Local Government, with the Clare Valley Regional Tourism Alliance (a dynamic alliance formed by a collection of Regional Councils), to the Barossa Tourism Manager for the South Australian Tourism Commission, then onto private enterprise as the Estate Experience Manager with Chateau Tanunda, and the General Manager of Tourism Central Australia.
In recent years I moved into business ownership and have found new passion for data and insights, as one of the owners of a boutique Market Research Agency, McGregor Tan. The world now feels whole after branching out and partnering with Paige and Rebecca on our journey together.
I was the Adelaide Christmas Pageant Queen in 2000 and have worked with a number of interesting events across Australia, including a wonderful community festival in Halls Creek, WA.
I lived in Alice Springs for almost 4 years with Tourism Central Australia and founded one of its most successful eateries; Loco Burrito in 2014.
When I have a spare weekend (with three young children and two businesses, that is not very often) you can find me with my girlfriends at a regional restaurant enjoying a laugh or with my husband sampling great local wines at the Good Gilbert near our home.
I think travel is in my bones- born of Welsh parents, I am truly a nomadic person; always moving and exploring. I love nothing more than roaming the outback, hiking, bush camping with our camper trailer, and experiencing this glorious country with my family.
In addition to taking embarking on regular antipodes adventures, I have lived overseas a number of times, and have spent many months of my life travelling South America, North America, Europe, the UK and SE Asia.
Having just returned from a month in Europe visiting friends and family, we have yet to lock in the next holiday. The Gibb River Road and the Tanami are both routes we would like to do, as well as cutting through outback NSW and Qld up to FNQ would be a great break from the Southern Winter next year.
As far as international travel, we would love to walk the Shogun Trail with our boys in Japan; combining walking with history. Slow travel is a very desirable way to disconnect from the daily grind and really enjoy your surrounds. My husband was born in Spain, so in the next few years (once our kids are old enough) we have plans to take a few months to walk the Camino and to discover his family’s story.
With a career in tourism, the bucket list is never shrinking and always being added too!
Our Trusted Partners
NIC COOPER
REGENERATIVE TOURISM SPECIALIST
Nic helps destinations make tourism a force for good. He brings a regenerative lens to strategy and experience design—centering community benefit, restoring nature, and creating adventures that deepen visitors’ connection to place.
He brings lived owner-operator insight together with evidence-based consulting to cut emissions, build climate resilience and avoid greenwash, translating big ideas into simple, practical steps.
LACHLAN SWAN
DESTINATION MARKETING SPECIALIST
Lachie is our team’s creative engine — shaping a destination’s identity into stories that feel human, look beautiful and perform.
He blends deep public-sector tourism experience with hands-on content craft, pairing a strategist’s discipline with a photographer’s eye to build engaged communities, inspire travel and elevate brand consistency across channels.