Tourism Hub Overview
Our East Arnhem Yolngu Tourism Hub is a centre that provides Indigenous tourism businesses with front and back office services to assist with effective business management. It is a gateway to providing excellent customer service with high quality information about Indigenous tourism experiences in East Arnhem. The Yolngu Tourism Hub is based in a welcoming, centrally located facility in Nhulunbuy to provide easy access for both Indigenous business owners as well as customers and encourages the development of Indigenous tourism in the East Arnhem Region in a way that is strategic and coordinated.
The vision for the Hub
As stated in the January 2008 Business Plan for the Hub, the vision for the Hub is that it will: “assist develop, market, support and coordinate the consistent supply of authentic Yolgnu experiences at a level of quality and reliability demanded by the market”. The aim of the Hub is to develop and make available new Indigenous tourism products and to stimulate new economic activity by developing tourism on Yolngu country. Tourism on Aboriginal land in East Arnhem is a new industry. While tourism activities have occurred sporadically, and through the annual Garma Festival, the Indigenous Tourism Hub is the first concerted and coordinated effort to build this industry regionally.
The aim is to produce complementary outcomes for Indigenous economic development, regional development and tourism industry development.
Benefits include:
- increased Yolngu involvement in the regional tourism industry
- additional employment opportunities for Yolngu on homelands and in arrangements that work flexibly with other employment opportunities, particularly across tourism, land management and Aboriginal arts sectors
- capitalise on demand for quality Indigenous cultural experiences where there is genuine opportunity for engagement with Indigenous people
- increased pride for Yolngu through participating in activities that showcase culture and country and produce meaningful engagement and networks with non-Indigenous people nationally and internationally
- stimulus and flow-on benefits for non-Indigenous operators and the regional economy of East Arnhem Land and
- development of a regional tourism destination in the Northern Territory with a brand image strongly connected to its Yolngu cultural and land assets.
