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In this episode of Talking Tourism, host Tracy Mallett speaks with Cat Carey from Think Tourism. We explore what it really takes to turn a tourism product into a memorable visitor experience. Cat shares her insights on why travellers are increasingly seeking meaningful experiences, the ingredients that create lasting memories and emotional connections, and why a ‘less is more’ approach can sometimes have the greatest impact. We also discuss practical ways tourism operators can rethink the experiences they offer and the simple changes that can make a lasting impression on visitors. This episode is proudly sponsored by Cumulus Studio.

In this episode of Talking Tourism, host Rachel Williams speaks with proud palawa woman Kitana Mansell, the dynamic force behind palawa kipli, Tasmania’s only Aboriginal food business. Kitana shares her journey from growing up in Launceston to becoming a leading voice for Aboriginal food, culture and tourism in Tasmania. She reflects on the importance of reconnecting with traditional food practices, the cultural significance of muttonbird harvesting, and how palawa kipli is creating opportunities for Aboriginal people through food, tourism and storytelling. The conversation explores how tourism and hospitality operators can respectfully engage with Tasmanian Aboriginal culture, from incorporating native ingredients and traditional place names to collaborating directly with Aboriginal businesses and communities. Kitana also speaks about sustainability, cultural education, and the future of Aboriginal-led tourism experiences across the state. You’ll also hear practical ideas for tourism operators wanting to deepen cultural understanding, support Aboriginal enterprise, and create more meaningful visitor experiences through authentic storytelling and connection to Country. This episode is proudly sponsored by Steadfast Taswide Insurance Brokers.

Making Data Work for You: Smarter Decisions and Better Guests with Tourism Tasmania In this episode of Talking Tourism, host Tracy Mallett speaks with Alexis Clarke and Paul Fleming from Tourism Tasmania’s research and insights team about how data can help tourism operators not just survive, but thrive. Recorded live at the 2025 Tasmanian Tourism Conference, Alexis and Paul unpack how Tourism Tasmania’s decades-long visitor surveys, trend analysis, and segmentation tools are shaping smarter, more sustainable tourism across the state. They explain how operators can tap into this free research to attract the right audiences, tailor experiences, improve award submissions, and build resilience in a changing market. You’ll also hear practical ideas for operators — like setting up feedback loops with guests, tracking repeat visitation, reviewing online testimonials for trends, and using segmentation tools to speak directly to high-value visitors who care about local experiences. This episode is proudly sponsored by Tourism Tasmania.

In this inspiring episode of Talking Tourism, host Lauren Cameron (TICT’s Carbon & Sustainability Advisor) is joined by Josh Howard - founder of Single Use Ain’t Sexy and a leading voice in sustainable personal care - to explore how small changes in tourism operations can lead to big environmental wins. Josh shares the journey of growing his dissolvable soap tablet startup into an international success, recently acquired by global hospitality supplier Buzz Products. He explains why shifting away from single-use plastics isn’t just better for the planet, it’s also better for the bottom line - some hotels are saving up to 60% by switching to bulk refillable amenities. From automation and refill tech to the rise of scent branding and ‘sleep tourism’, Josh dives into emerging trends, practical strategies, and easy wins for businesses of all sizes looking to lighten their environmental footprint. He shares actionable ideas for tourism operators, including reducing single-use plastics, trialling innovative sustainable products, and using clear guest communication to encourage responsible behaviour during their stay. Recorded live at the 2025 Tasmanian Tourism Conference, this episode is a must-listen for any operator ready to future-proof their guest experience. This episode is proudly sponsored by TICT Partner, Aurora Energy.

Recorded live at the 2025 Tasmanian Tourism Conference, this episode of Talking Tourism features a conversation with storytelling expert Barb McGregor, who shares powerful insights on how Tasmanian tourism operators can craft meaningful, authentic brand stories that truly connect with visitors. Hosted by Tracy Mallett, this conversation explores the unique elements that set Tasmania’s tourism brand apart — from its wild-yet-serene landscapes to its deep cultural heritage and strong sense of custodianship. Barb introduces her practical “4 Ps” framework — People, Place, Product and Performance — and shows how these can be used to build rich, emotive narratives that go beyond just listing features. Whether you're just starting out or looking to refresh your brand messaging, Barb offers strategies for finding your business’s storytelling voice, using sensory language to spark emotional engagement, and standing out in a saturated digital landscape. She also highlights the importance of storytelling imagery, emotional hooks, and user-generated content that aligns with the authentic Tasmanian experience. This episode is proudly supported by TICT Major Partner, Business Events Tasmania, the peak body championing Tasmania’s business events sector and helping deliver world-class experiences across the state.

In this episode of Talking Tourism, host Rachel Williams is joined by content marketing powerhouse Hannah Statham, founder of Media Mortar, to unpack how storytelling isn't just a nice-to-have—it’s your biggest competitive edge. With 16 years in tourism and lifestyle marketing, Hannah shares why it’s critical for tourism operators to clearly define their unique story, how to transform everyday visuals into scroll-stopping content, and why quality imagery is often the best ROI you can make. Hannah also dives into recruitment marketing—highlighting how social media can be a game-changer when traditional job ads fall flat, and why businesses should be ‘always on’ with their employer brand. If you’ve ever struggled to articulate your business’s point of difference or wondered how to attract the right staff, this episode is packed with gold. Recorded live at the 2025 Tasmanian Tourism Conference, and proudly supported by the Tasmanian Hospitality and Tourism Academy.

In this eye-opening episode of Talking Tourism, host Tracy Mallett chats with Steve Wiggers—Managing Director of SCALA The Training Company and leadership trainer—to break down what AI really means for Tasmanian tourism operators. Far from the doom-and-gloom headlines, Steve offers a practical and empowering take on how artificial intelligence can be used as a helpful assistant—not a threat. Recorded live at the 2025 Tasmanian Tourism Conference, Steve explains how even the smallest operator can save time, reduce admin, and enhance their guest experience by using everyday AI tools. Whether it’s crafting a marketing campaign, building a customer persona, or generating social media content, Steve outlines real-world ways AI can free up your time so you can focus on what matters most—delivering memorable visitor experiences. He also shares how operators can get started with simple steps, such as asking AI tools to help write itineraries, generate customer service responses, test new ideas, or create staff rosters and training plans. Most importantly, Steve emphasises the value of keeping “a human in the loop”—using critical thinking and personal connection to complement the tech. This episode is proudly sponsored by Hostplus.

In this special episode recorded live at the 2025 Tasmanian Tourism Conference, host Rachel Williams is joined by renowned customer experience expert Amanda Stevens for a deep dive into the future of tourism, traveller behaviour, and how Tasmanian operators can stay ahead of the curve. With her background in consumer psychology and marketing, Amanda shares fascinating insights into the trends shaping the visitor economy — from the rise of wellness and adventure travel to the new motivations behind milestone getaways and intergenerational holidays. She unpacks the importance of creating raving fans, designing truly memorable guest experiences, and leveraging user-generated content in a social-media-driven world. Amanda also highlights why Tasmania is perfectly positioned for a tourism resurgence, and how operators can re-engineer their offerings to meet the changing needs of travellers — all while staying authentic to their unique brand and story. This episode is proudly supported by TICT Partner, Launceston Airport, Tasmania’s northern gateway and a key driver of the state’s visitor economy. Connect with the TICT here: Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/tictasmania Website - https://tict.com.au/

Former physiotherapist, 2012 Masterchef Australia finalist, and most recently CEO of Sydney's Lotus Dining Group, Mindy Woods is currently studying sustainable horticulture and bush food with the goal of protecting native foods, the environment and re-igniting Indigenous culture. You must taste a culture to truly understand it. That’s why Mindy, a proud First Nations woman, opened her very own native inspired restaurant Karkalla on Ancestral country, creating opportunities for indigenous and non-indigenous people to connect with Aboriginal culture, art, and stories through food. Visit Northern Tasmania CEO, Tracey Mallett, sat down with Mindy at the 2023 Tasmanian Tourism Conference where they discussed all things native Tasmanian food and the many ways in which this can be incorporated into tourism and hospitality businesses. If you are into your food – and let’s be honest, who isn’t? – then you must give this episode a listen.  Food is a natural connector – you already have people’s buy-in before they take their first bite. But there’s so many opportunities to tell the story behind the food. Mindy explains how we, as Australians, come from the land of the original storytellers. We come from such a rich and abundant culture, and we often forget this and what’s in our own backyards. Australians travel elsewhere for food experiences, but we have the world’s oldest surviving civilisation and ingredients right here. Behind every producer and their land is a great story to tell, and it’s by collaborating and connecting with others – especially the Tasmanian Aboriginal community – that you discover what this story is and how you can share it with visitors and locals alike. It is within these conversations and learnings that positive impact is maximised.  Today’s episode is brought to you by our partner, VXT. VXT is a purpose-built organization with the sole purpose to train a hospitality and tourism workforce to deliver the Tasmanian workforce. VXT offers an array of industry-led, outcome-focused training courses both online and around Tasmania. Thanks to VXT for their generous support of TICT and for helping to make this episode of Talking Tourism possible.

Talking Tourism Episode 144 – Tourism strategy…without the BS with Tom Wootton & Anne Greentree. Both Tom and Anne have had (and continue to have) an incredible influence on tourism in Tasmania. Among many things, Tom was the inaugural CEO of the regional tourism organisation, West by North West. Whereas, Anne has spent the past four years as the Director Visitor Economy Strategy at Tourism Tasmania. While in this role, Anne has worked alongside the state government and industry to develop the 2030 Visitor Economy Strategy – which is now live (and can be read here).  In today’s episode, TICT CEO Amy Hills sits down with Tom and Anne to chat all about tourism strategy – a topic which they delivered a Day 1 workshop at the 2023 Tasmanian Tourism Conference. Whether you are starting out fresh in the industry, or thinking it’s time to review , having a strategy in place for your business doesn’t have to be a daunting task. Tom and Anne say to simplify it into 3 steps: your current state, your future state, and the steps in between. Ask yourself: What am I doing now? Where do I want to be? What are the steps to get there?  However, it is important that you also take into consideration the future vision of the tourism industry as a whole and the future vision for Tasmania as a destination. This is where the 2030 Visitor Economy Strategy comes in. Not only does it detail the vision, values and themes, but it shares the forecasting work which has been undertaken to understand the global and domestic factors of what future demand could look like for Tasmania.  Strategy is different from operator to operator, but every business needs a purpose and vision. All it takes is to think about how you are different from your competitors and how you complement the Tasmanian brand. It is important that the steps you take to achieve this vision are SMART: Specific; Measurable; Achievable; Relevant; and Time-bound.  Today’s episode is brought to you by our partner, Cumulus Studio. Cumulus Studio is an award-winning architecture and interior design practice with offices in Hobart, Launceston, Melbourne and Adelaide Among its most notable Tasmanian tourism designs are the award-winning Cradle Mountain Visitor Centre and the iconic Pumphouse Point. Thanks to Cumulus Studio for their generous support of TICT and for helping to make this episode of Talking Tourism possible.

Recognised as one of Australia’s nine most influential female entrepreneurs, Hailey Brown has become a catalyst for change within the tourism industry. Upon recognising that blind and low-vision tourists were precluded from travelling as tourism marketing is visual, she created the world’s first sensory audio tourism app, Vacayit. She is highly experienced in the field of accessible tourism, universal design, inclusion, and diversity and aims to drive positive societal change around how destinations and operators market their experiences. Visit Northern Tasmania’s Chief Executive Officer, Tracey Mallett, sits down with Hailey at the 2023 Tasmanian Tourism Conference where she presented on how tourism operators can market their inclusive tourism experience. Hailey gets straight to the point and says it all comes down to operators making a start and simply considering people with disability. Ask yourself the question, are you thinking of every single customer? 1 in 5 people live with disability in Australia – and this includes a vast array of physical and mental disabilities. Start off by targeting one, and the continue to build off that. Further to this, Hailey says it’s about both infrastructure and experience. It’s more than just widening a doorway or putting a ramp in – it’s about every touchpoint of the visitor journey. Resources such as Tourism Australia as well as peak bodies and service providers have lots of information that will point you in the right direction to get started. But it all starts by asking and listening to people with disability – asking the question, what can make your experience better? Disability awareness training for your staff is a very good starting point as it will teach your staff to be welcoming of everyone. There is also a lot of opportunity within technology. Hailey’s organisation, Vacayit, creates immersive sensory audio guides for people who are blind and vision impaired off the back of recognising an obvious gap in how tourism operators were marketing their products and experiences purely off of sight alone. Hailey is hopeful that Tasmania’s tourism industry – one that thrives off of working collaboratively – can lead the way in accessible tourism experiences.   If you want to take that first step and to look at your business through an accessible lens, please contact Hannah Lang, our Quality Tourism Advisor, who can provide you free access to complete the Accessibility Accreditation Module. Email us at [email protected].  Today’s episode is brought to you by our partner, Tasmania Parks & Wildlife Service. PWS presents, protects and manages Tasmania’s extraordinary landscapes in partnership with the community. They work to conserve the state’s natural and cultural heritage while providing for sustainable use and economic opportunities for the Tasmanian community. Thanks to Tasmania Parks & Wildlife for their generous support of TICT and for helping to make this episode of Talking Tourism possible.

Taihlaura Denman-Francis is a Managing Marketing Consultant at Kingthing. In this role, Taihlaura enjoys the thrill of dreaming up big ideas for her clients. She has an undeniable passion for all things in the digital space, and her favourite things are strategic planning, marketing tactics, social media management and digital advertising. Taihlaura is also a Launceston Tamar Valley Tourism Association (LTVTA) committee member, where she’s been able to use her marketing prowess to provide more avenues for tourism operators in the area to discuss, share and learn. Taihlaura delivered an insightful workshop at this year’s Tourism Conference, titled ‘Designing effectively on Canva’ and in today’s episode, she sits down with Tom Wootton to chat all about it.  For those who are not aware of Canva, it is a simple to use, cloud-based design platform which can assist you to design anything you can possibly think of – social media tiles, letters, invites, logos, business cards, email signatures etc. Instead of using an app such as Microsoft PowerPoint, Canva is an online tool which you can access via the internet. There is a free version or a pro version for the cheap price of $164.99 per year (which is cheaper than Netflix!). Taihlaura explains some simple yet important design techniques and things to avoid doing, such as ‘font frenzy’, the use of negative space in your design, not over-crowding content and keeping the use of colour to a minimum. We’ve all heard, ‘less is more’ but Taihlaura explains how important this truly is when designing effective marketing material. Tourism products and experiences are often communicated visually, which means investing time and energy into a platform like Canva can go a long way to creating high-quality material that makes you stand out from the crowd. Digital marketing doesn’t have to be daunting – just jump onto Canva and give it a go! Today’s episode is brought to you by our partner, the Department of State Growth. The Department of State Growth brings together four interrelated divisions developing a strategic approach that drives economic growth, and supports the community, industry, and business in the creation of jobs and opportunities for Tasmanians. Thanks to the Department of State Growth for their generous support of TICT and for helping to make this episode of Talking Tourism possible.

Nic Cooper is a Regenerative Tourism Specialist at The Tourism Collective but is also a small business owner on the Mornington Peninsula. He has extensive experience spanning destination marketing, product development, and customer engagement with a particular passion and expertise for sustainable and regenerative tourism. Visit Northern Tasmania CEO, Tracey Mallet, sits down with Nic at the 2023 Tasmanian Tourism Conference where he delivered a Day 1 workshop about regenerative tourism.  For those not aware of regenerative tourism, Nic says it can mean different things to different people, however he essentially boils it down to ‘doing tourism for good’. It’s all about going beyond sustainability and instead having a long-term positive impact on the community and environment. The benefits of regenerative tourism are all-encompassing, but for tourism businesses particularly, it can help attract more customers as well as making you more marketable. This is especially important for Tasmania as it manages the balance between protecting the things that make it different and growing the visitor economy.  Tracey and Nic delve into the tips and tricks on how tourism businesses can enter the regenerative tourism space, and the key piece of advice is to simply make a start. Nic says it’s about progress, not perfection. It’s not a tick-box exercise, but continuous work. Ask yourself the question, ‘what are the negative impacts of our business and how can we change them into a positive?’ Start with the short-term, immediate changes you can make and then map out the middle to long-term goals.  Today’s episode is brought to you by our partner, Hype TV. As a complete production house, Hype has the capability to facilitate the entire production process from concept creation through to media delivery. Hype’s core production team consists of industry professionals with decades of experience, and they also have an extensive network of production crews across Tasmania to tailor to your needs. Thanks to Hype TV for their generous support of TICT and for helping to make this episode of Talking Tourism possible.

Tim Polmear is Co-Founder of Waubs Harbour Distillery on the beautiful east coast of Tasmania. Before venturing into the world of whisky, Tim and his wife Bec founded Flat Tummy Tea Co – a herbal tea remedy to help ease indigestion. After falling into the world of influencer marketing, the brand quickly gained momentum and turned into a flourishing e-commerce business. Then, in 2016, Tim and Bec sold the business and moved back to Tassie to start a family, and in 2018, the dream location in Bicheno was purchased and the Waubs Harbour Distillery journey begun. Tim was one of the Day 2 speakers at the Tourism Conference, and he truly captured the crowd with his raw, open personality and inspiring story, and in today’s episode, Tim sat down with Destination Southern Tasmania’s Damian Mather to chat all about it. They unpack the reasoning behind starting a new business or developing a new product, and how it’s of course important to have some experience and capital behind you, but more importantly to have courage and determination. At the core of any business is storytelling, and Tim suggests authenticity is the key ingredient to any business’s marketing process. A key takeaway from Tim’s presentation at the Conference was the question he asked his brother and co-founder of Waubs Harbour, and that was, “If you could create whisky your way, with your dream equipment in the ideal location, how would you do it?” This question was what set the business up and ultimately on its path to greatness. Substitute the word whisky for whatever is relevant to you and your tourism business, and it’s a great question to ask yourself. The answer may very well be the reason behind what makes you or your business stand out from the crowd. Today’s episode is brought to you by our partner, McDermott’s Coaches. McDermott’s Coaches is Tasmania’s largest coach, tour and specialist transport service provider, supplying tours, transfers and coach charters for large and small groups around Tasmania and interstate. They offer the local knowledge and experience of the McDermott family along with more than 50 staff, all of whom are committed to delivering great service. Thanks to McDermott’s Coaches for helping to make this episode of Talking Tourism possible.

Today’s episode is with Larni Davies – TICT’s very own Tassie Tourism Ambassador Program Coordinator. A passionate Tasmanian, Larni Davies has 31 years of experience in the tourism industry. After living interstate and even overseas for six years, Larni returned to Tasmania where she worked as a bushwalking guide with Tasmanian Expeditions; Cradle Mountain Huts; the Bay of Fires Walk and later progressed into management roles. Larni has previously coordinated the Adventure Tour Guiding program at TasTAFE Drysdale in Hobart for many years – equipping students with the knowledge and skills to become professional and competent bushwalking tour guides in Tasmania, and beyond. TICT’s Kelly Luck sits down with Larni and chats all things Tassie Tourism Ambassador Program. They delve into how the program came about, who it is for, what the program entails, and what the future looks like.  Anyone can become an Ambassador, but it’s specifically aimed at tourism and hospitality staff to teach them all about their industry in Tasmania, more about their regions and how to tell their stories in an engaging and captivating way to ultimately exceed our visitor’s expectations. Best of all – it’s 100% free! What are you waiting for? Become an Ambassador – www.tassietourismambassador.com.au/about/  Today’s episode is brough to you by the Department of State Growth. The Department of State Growth brings together four interrelated divisions developing a strategic approach that drives economic growth and supports the community, industry, and business in the creation of jobs and opportunities for Tasmanians. Thanks to the Department of State Growth for their generous support of TICT and for helping make this episode of Talking Tourism possible.