NPA dancers travel to Perth

The World Indigenous Tourism Summit 2023 (WITS) was an international forum to help advance opportunities for First Nations people in the tourism sector.

The event was held in Perth earlier this month and co-hosted by the WA Indigenous Tourism Operators Council on country of the Whadjuk Noongar people.

The summit brought together Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples and organisations from diverse parts of the tourism industry, offering participants an opportunity to impart and gain knowledge of the vital interdependence among tourism, community, and earth stewardship.

The Naygayiw Gigi Dance Troupe, who have represented the Northern Peninsula Area, Torres Strait and Australia at festivals across the Asia-Pacific region, performed at the conference.

Singer and Manager disappointment was they were only asked to perform once.

Leonora Adidi said they were sponsored to be there by the Torres Strait Regional Authority.

“We were there to represent the Torres Strait and NPA in Indigenous cultural tourism, as we have operated in this space since 2015 as performing artists at Cape York Peninsula Lodge,” she said.

“We performed on the Cultural Night of the Summit along with other dancers from WA, other parts of the country and international guests.

“As Australia’s other sovereign First Nation people, we felt that to have travelled such a long distance over two days for a once-only performance was terribly disrespectful,” she said.

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“It was a tremendous honour for us to represent and share our culture on this particular international platform.”

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“However, as a dance troupe operating as a business, we found attending the sessions, seeing and listening to experienced Indigenous operators in the industry in Australia and overseas, what we learned was invaluable for our business and as Indigenous cultural performing artists.”

Grants open to support businesses in 2023 Year of Accessible Tourism

Applications are now open for the new Accessible Tourism Enablers grants providing between $50,000 to $250,000 to support not-for-profit peak and disability services organisations to make products that make visitor experiences more inclusive.

Queensland Minister for Tourism and Sport Stirling Hinchliffe said the new grants were part of the Government’s investment in the 2023 Year of Accessible Tourism, an exciting opportunity to demonstrate Queensland’s commitment to making Brisbane 2032 the world’s most accessible and inclusive sporting event.

“These grants will support upgrades of accessible visitor infrastructure and technology that will further enhance Queensland’s reputation as an all-abilities destination of choice,” he said. “More and more people with a disability and their families are looking for travel options that can cater to their needs.

“We want this year to be the transformation that creates an enduring legacy for Queensland as an inclusive, world-class visitor destination.

“Queensland’s great lifestyle and world-class visitor experiences are too good not to be enjoyed by everyone.”

The strategy recognised the untapped potential surrounding accessible tourism of $735 million per annum or $1.8 billion per annum when including the travel party.

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Queensland’s Year of Accessible Tourism kicked-off with the release of a free online accessible tourism toolkit earlier this year developed by Get Skilled Access (GSA) and TravAbility in partnership with the Department of Tourism, Innovation and Sport.

For more information, visit www.dtis.qld.gov. au/tourism/accessible-tourism/year-of-accessibletourism