Taking over a year to make, a new promotional film, Our Country Is Waiting For You, aims to change tourist preconceptions that indigenous experiences are remote, difficult to access and always and only mean visiting the bush. The film, by Brendan Fletcher and Warwick Thornton, premiered this week in Sydney.
However the film has also been criticised by some for being unrepresentative and lacking significant information to help visitors book.
In Brief
- The film was commissioned and funded by Tourism Australia as it seeks to address years of decline in the number of overseas visitors seeking indigenous experiences.
- over the last 12 months, just 14 per cent of international tourists took part in some form of Aboriginal cultural experience.
- The film will be shown on international flights, at airports and in hotels.
In Depth
- Engage with the World Indigenous Tourism Alliance on their webpage.
- Read the 2012 study ‘Demand and Supply Issues in Indigenous Tourism: A Gap Analysis’
- A new report by PATA and WINTA, Indigenous Tourism & Human Rights In Asia & the Pacific Region report is free to PATA members and is priced at US$50 for chapter members and non-members. All proceeds from the sale of the report will go to the PATA Foundation’s Nepal Earthquake Tourism Recovery Fund. To order this report or any other PATA publication, please contact the PATA Publications Team at [email protected]