Interview
Sustainability , indigenous and accessibility
CMW ’ S IAIN STIRLING TALKS TO ROBIN MACK EXECUTIVE GENERAL MANAGER , COMMERCIAL & BUSINESS EVENTS AUSTRALIA , AT TOURISM AUSTRALIA
In terms of promoting sustainable tourism , what measures are Tourism Australia taking to ensure an impact is being made ? RM : First of all , as an organisation we have as key priorities : sustainability , along with indigenous and accessibility .
We set priorities every year , and have about six or seven of them , with the three mentioned above as key ones .
Sustainability kind of feeds into everything we do as an organisation . We have a head of sustainability and we lead by example and try to educate our industry and our customers by advocating what great Aussie brands are doing . But we also make sure we live that as well . For sustainability , important for us is the holistic sense of the word . That includes the cultural , the environmental , and also the economic side of things . We also weave in the
First Nations people into that , because it ’ s intrinsically part of the sustainable story .
We have our own large-scale annual event , Australia Tourism Exchange ( ATE ). We held it recently at the Gold Coast . In the past two years , this event has been carbon zero . We have an offset programme around ATE and work with Climate Active and Rewild . It ’ s a trade show with 2,500 people in attendance – an Australia-only show , although we bring 500 international buyers from overseas .
We have shell scheme exhibition stands and they are all recyclable . The show will be in Melbourne next year . It ’ s vitally important for us to practise what we preach .
We also partner with Eco-Tourism Australia , and they have a programme called ‘ Strive for Sustainability ’, which
Above : Robin Mack
Left : Brisbane , courtesy of Tourism Australia is a programme that anyone in our industry in Australia can follow to educate themselves and learn how to bring sustainability through their business .
We know that events have a massive economic impact on Australia . Have you seen an increase in events this year ? The latest data I ’ ve got on all arrivals into Australia from all markets show that we are at 77 % of where it was compared to 2019 , although the UK market is at 82 %. So , tracking really well , and includes business and leisure events .
Aviation is back to 86 % internationally and 100 % domestically . So that ’ s kind of our litmus test . We ’ re hearing from many industries that are tracking ahead of projections .
Our Bid Fund programme is a good measure for us for our future pipeline . We had 28 wins between January and the beginning of August , worth AUD $ 172m . This is tracking better than where we were at in July last year for wins in a calendar year .
Even in Covid , we were winning future bids . We ’ ve added AUD $ 4m into boosting that programme which shows the importance of the Bid Fund .
How is Tourism Australia encouraging sustainable tourism within your key destinations . It ’ s about the advocacy piece . Who ’ s doing it well around the country ? Well , Adelaide Convention Centre is doing amazing things with their new waste programme , Waste Master . And ICC Sydney has got carbon zero menus that they have introduced .
MCEC in Melbourne has a reusable cup scheme to provide an alternative to single use coffee cups .
We have the Australia innovates video series , which is a series of nine films linking to our key industry sectors , that demonstrates the Australian smarts .
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