Northern Territory Aboriginal Tourism Cultural Tourism Framework
People come from all around the world to experience Aboriginal cultures in the Northern Territory, and Aboriginal tourism operators and people are the only ones who can tell the cultural tourism narrative.
Aboriginal cultures are central to life, communities, and landscapes in the Northern Territory. Aboriginal Territorians may ask: why should I get involved in tourism?
Cultural tourism can:
- keep cultures strong
- allow you to live and work on Country
- share your cultures, your story, in your way
- provide a jobs pathways for your people
- foster understanding and respect of Aboriginal cultures through visitor education
- assist financial wellbeing.
The Northern Territory has significantly higher number of tourists who have an experience with Aboriginal cultures than the national average. The Territory is the destination to connect with Aboriginal cultures.
The Aboriginal tourism sector makes a huge contribution to Northern Territory jobs and the economy, and tourism numbers continue to grow. As visitor numbers rise, there is more demand for Aboriginal tourism product and experiences.
The tourism sector needs more Aboriginal experiences and product across the whole of the Northern Territory to help tell the strong Aboriginal cultural tourism narrative we have here in the Territory.
The Framework provides information to guide the development of Aboriginal cultural tourism in the Northern Territory:
- Building Aboriginal cultural tourism in the Northern Territory – a snapshot on the tools to help you, why should you get involved in tourism and where you get more information.
- Understanding the business of Aboriginal cultural tourism – about understanding tourism, types of visitors that come the Northern Territory, opportunities for developing different Aboriginal tourism product and the benefits tourism can provide to Aboriginal people, families and communities.
- Sharing our stories – provides stories to help inspire you on your own tourism journey. There are over 100 Aboriginal cultural tourism businesses located throughout the Northern Territory. Each business and its product is unique - different cultures, different Country, different experiences and different stories. This guide provides examples of some of the different types of Aboriginal cultural tourism businesses available across the Northern Territory.
- Our tourism pathways – provides the steps you need to take at each stage of the Aboriginal cultural tourism journey, both cultural way and business way.
- Walking together / working together – provides an understanding the importance of cultural protocols, protecting culture, right way tourism, acknowledgement and integrity. It aims to support Aboriginal people on their tourism journey and to ensure governments, support organisations and the tourism industry walk together/work together appropriately.
- Recognition and respect – provides an understanding of the different ways Aboriginal culture can be acknowledged and respected through tourism; it also provides an overview of cultural and business benefits for Aboriginal cultural tourism recognition and respect.
Sector development – special interest market opportunities
- Drive tourism market opportunities for Aboriginal tourism – provides an understanding of the self-drive visitors and the tourism experiences and product opportunities. Self-drive visitors love the freedom and flexibility of exploring at their own pace. For the Northern Territory, 40% of all visitors use a vehicle during their visit. This is especially important for the Northern Territory as drive visitors stay longer, travel further and spend more during their visit.
- Wellness tourism market opportunities for Aboriginal tourism – provides an understanding of the wellness visitors and the tourism experiences and product opportunities. Wellness tourism is about travel that is focused on improving someone’s wellbeing. It has been defined as “voluntary travel to world-wide destinations for the purpose of promoting health and well-being through physical, psychological, or spiritual activities”.