Oceania, the Call to Recovery
Trade Events are Back!
It is so exciting to see the entire Oceania Region gradually reopening its borders and heartwarming to see friends and families finally reunited. In May 2022, key destinations were able to host trade events in person again and reconnect with the international markets: ATE in Sydney, TRENZ in Christchurch, and FTE in Denarau Island. Sadly, I wasn’t able to attend in person this year but was thrilled to be connected virtually to the Australian Tourism Exchange, thanks to Tourism Australia. How did ATE go this year and what does it mean for the industry?
New Zealand Post-COVID
After such a long pause, what kind of tourism do we expect to see back in the region, what lessons have we learned, and how can we avoid reproducing previous mistakes (such as overtourism…)? Let’s take a look at New Zealand and what the post-COVID New Zealand experience looks like. Our ambassador Wendy Van Lieshout, CEO of Active Adventures, is sharing her direct experience from the field - New Zealand – Adventuring Once More.
Tourism & Climate Change
Climate change has undeniably been affecting us all globally, but Oceania is particularly vulnerable, and many initiatives have been designed to improve tourism practices and reduce the travel impact on climate. Back in June, we hosted the webinar Meet the Experts: Climate Change & Tourism in the Pacific Islands - What Travel Businesses can do to help?
The ATTA’s climate guru, Christina Beckmann, co-founder of Tomorrow’s Air, moderated a panel discussion with key experts from the industry sharing their vision and success stories. You can read more from each of our speakers in their dedicated pieces below, and we invite you to also watch the full webinar session.
Dr. Susanne Etti - Australia
Global Environmental Impact Manager, Intrepid Travel
Christina Leala-Gale - Fiji Island
Manager, Division of Sustainable Tourism, South Pacific Tourism Organisation (SPTO)
Trent Yeo - New Zealand
Executive Director, Ziptrek Ecotours
Ciaran McCormack - Australia
Manager Australia - Pacific, The Climate Reality Project
It is great to see everyone so involved in addressing climate change by working on their policies, creating a movement, and making it their priority, as noted by Christopher Cocker, CEO from SPTO (Pacific Tourism Organisation):
“Promoting sustainable tourism planning and development in the Pacific region is one of SPTO’s key strategic priorities and it is also articulated in the Pacific Sustainable Tourism Policy Framework. In progressing this priority, SPTO has advanced initiatives like the Pacific Sustainable Tourism Commitment and the Glasgow Declaration on Climate Action in Tourism.”
Tourism & Accessibility
To continue with our webinar series, we are pleased to inform you that the next session will be dedicated to the Australasia audience and focus on accessibility in tourism. This will be happening in late October, so stay tuned for more updates soon. Accessibility has always been a hot topic at ATTA and part of our key initiatives. Heather Kelly, Director, Research and Sustainability at ATTA is sharing key trends and data on this important sector from our industry in Adventure for All: Adapting to Accessibility in Adventure Travel.
News From the Field
ATTA’s Ambassadors
We are delighted to announce that we have onboarded three new ATTA ambassadors to support our community in the region, and this is my great pleasure to introduce you to:
Wendy Van Lieshout, CEO of Active Adventures - New Zealand.
Wendy and Active Adventure have been engaged with ATTA for many years. She is a role model as a leader of the industry, inspiring positive changes such as the launch of a new flexible working policy for their global team which has grown out of the changing way we do business – including up to 12 weeks of working overseas every two years. She has also been leading the merging between Active Adventure and Austin Adventures based in the US. Find out why she agreed to join our awesome team of ambassadors.
Brad Atwal, Marketing Director, World Expeditions - Australia
World Expedition is one of ATTA’s champions, as they have been an active member for over 15 years, and Brad has been really active in supporting our community, sharing insights and inspiring us with the wonderful initiatives such as Lend a hand, appeal Campaign or collaborating with CEO Sue Badyari on our Women empowerment’s Report
Philip Wyndham, General Manager, Adventure South - New Zealand
Adventure South has been a member of ATTA since 2008. Philip has participated actively in our Adventure Travel World Summit over the years and is a loyal supporter of ATTA, in New Zealand. He also joined our think tank workshop on climate change sharing his insights with our peers.
When invited to join us as an ambassador, Philip said: “There is no doubt that the people across ATTA make the membership so valuable. The opportunity to share ideas or a laugh is priceless. I also feel it's important we see more NZ and AU members get involved. We need a more global ie Southern Hemisphere business and members to join in.”
A warm welcome to you all!
ATTA’s Adventure Champions
From our spotlight on Adventure Champions series, we are pleased to present to you, our latest ATTA’s champion in Oceania:
World Nomads. World Nomads is an adventure travel brand providing the most relevant, flexible travel insurance to protect the global traveler and their adventures.
New members
Ocean Sailing Expeditions Pty Ltd
Tour operator from Australia
Step up and join David Hows onboard as crew of his yacht for the ocean sailing adventure of a lifetime. We take everyday people on offshore sailing adventures 4-21 days in duration. We offer hands-on sailing experience on two 72 foot expedition/race yachts that are commercially approved to the highest maritime safety standards, to operate anywhere in the world. What makes us unique: We are the only company in New Zealand and Australia that is licensed to sail internationally.
Save the Dates
If you are planning to attend our Adventure Travel World Summit in Switzerland, 3-6 October 2022, please do reach out so we can schedule a meeting and if you haven’t registered yet, note that we are almost sold out; very few seats are left. For the ones not able to make the trip this year, save the date in 2023 as our summit will be closer to home, in Hokkaido, Japan, on 11-14 September 2023.
If you have any special news to share and would like to be featured, we are the voice of our Adventure Travel Community in Oceania and always happy to support you.
I wish you all a great recovery and look forward to being inspired by new tourism initiatives in the region.
Warm regards,
Céline