Workshop 2012

Wildlife Tourism Australia’s 3rd National Workshop:

“Using Wildlife for Tourism”

Marking the 10th Anniversary of Wildlife Tourism Australia

Venue: Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary, Gold Coast, Queensland

Date:  Wednesday – Friday 16-18th May 2012 (opening cocktails Tuesday evening at Vikings, Currumbin Beach)

Using wildlife for tourism can mean either providing wildlife experiences in specialised birding, diving and other wildlife tours or using wildlife experiences for value-adding to general tourism. Using wildlife also brings with it  a responsibility for helping to protect our wildlife

Call for abstracts ends 24th February

Earlybird registration ends  16th March

Details for  trade displays  will be available soon

Many thanks to our sponsors:

• Southern Gold Coast
• Denise Goodfellow and Michael Stott

If you would like to become a sponsor, please visit our sponsors page

See also:

• workshop themes
• venue
• program
• registration
• accommodation
• district
• social events and tours
• keynote speakers
• sponsorship

The significance of wildlife to tourism and Australia’s economy

Australia may well boast lovely white beaches and fine hotels, but so do other countries.

Nowhere else  however do you find wild koalas, kangaroos,  wombats, numbats, platypus, lyrebirds and many other unique and intriguing creatures. Australia also offers  the world’s largest coral reef, miles of safe walking tracks through rainforests and eucalypt forests,  swimming with the world’s largest fish or the strange leafy sea-dragon, wide open spaces roamed by the world’s largest marsupial and second-largest bird…

How important is our wildlife to international and domestic  tourism, and thus to both the Australian economy and the livelihood of individual tourism businesses? Are we realizing its potential? Some tour operations focus almost exclusively on wildlife (e.g. birdwatching tours, kayaking with dolphins, penguin parade) while other more general tours and accommodations use one or more wildlife experiences to value-add (e.g. farmstays that promote watching for kangaroos coming to graze in the paddocks or good birdwatching along the creek, tours that call in to see a koala park or glow worm cave amidst other attractions.

Come along and join the discussions on the economics of wildlife tourism and the value of wildlife to tourism.

The importance of quality guiding

For many travellers from overseas, their guide is their main contact with Australian people, so good guiding has an important diplomatic role. It also offers great opportunity to impart knowledge, understanding and appreciation of our wildlife to both international and domestic visitors. This is a role many tour operations take very seriously, but we have heard a few horror stories as well, and of course some simply don;t make much of an effort.

How do Australian guides measure up to those of other countries, some of which have offer extensive training in wildlife? What are the prime factors that go to make great guiding and high-quality, memorable interpretation?

Tourism, conservation and research

Tourism can assist wildlife conservation by direct donations by operators and tourists to conservation projects, volunteer tourism, good interpretation of conservation issues, enhancing appreciation of wildlife and their habitats, contributing to research and monitoring of species and habitats, conservation breeding of rare species and habitat restoration.

The coordination of tourism operators and conservation research will be one of the special discussion topics at the workshop.

Tourism can also pose threats  - disturbing animals from favoured feeding or breeding areas, separating mother and young, driving birds from their nests, trampling habitats etc. There are also external threats looking – climate change, expanding human populations, an explosion of mining leases … so we will also be discussing how best to tackle threats imposed by our industry and from other sources.

Join our discussions on ideas for assisting wildlife conservation and avoiding negative effects.

Keynote speakers for the workshop:

Professor Clem Tisdell – One of Australia’s most prolific authors on economics, Clem is well-known as a pioneer in the field of ecological economics and Australia’s leading expert on the economics of wildlife tourism.

Steve Parish – Australia’s best-known wildlife photographer and publisher of an extensive range of Australian wildlife books for adults and children. Steve has a passion for all kinds of wildlife and for connecting children with nature

Associate Professor Darryl Jones – Darryl is an entertaining and highly informative speaker. He and his team of students and assistants have been researching human-wildlife connections for many years, including wildlife tourism.

Shane O’Reilley, Managing Director, O’Reilly’s Rainforest Retreat and associated businesses.  O’Reilly’s was one of the pioneers of Australian ecotourism lomg before the word was coined, and is now one of the laergest and oldest operations, with regular bird week, frog week and other specialized events. Shane – who has worked in tourism in both South Africa and Australia –   is also a board member of both Tourism Queensland and the Gondwana World Heritage Committee.

There will also be an opportunity to see Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary’s new wildlife hospital (which caters to many animals brought in by the public as well as its own resident creatures), and for pre- and post-workshop tours to rainforests, islands and other venues.

A display of wonderful wildlife art will also be exhibited by Caldera Art.

Registratin and call for papers are now open

See also:

• workshop themes
• venue
• program
• registration
• accommodation
• district
• social events and tours
• keynote speakers
• sponsorship