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Identifying Business Practices Promoting Sustainability in Aboriginal Tourism Enterprises in Remote Australia

Author

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  • Skye Akbar

    (School of Management, City West Campus, University of South Australia, Adelaide, SA 5000, Australia)

  • Rob Hallak

    (School of Management, City West Campus, University of South Australia, Adelaide, SA 5000, Australia)

Abstract

Aboriginal tourism entrepreneurs operating in remote regions of Australia draw on their 60,000 years of heritage to offer unique and distinct cultural experiences to domestic and international tourists. Living and operating in remote climates presents challenges to achieving successful and sustainable enterprises, including extreme weather, substandard infrastructure, distance from policy makers, distance from markets and the commercialisation of culture, which is customarily owned by and for use by traditional custodians, to produce and deliver a market-ready tourism product. However, many remote Aboriginal tourism entrepreneurs nevertheless achieve success and sustainability. This paper builds on the work of Foley to identify the characteristics of successful remote Aboriginal tourism enterprises and Aboriginal entrepreneurs in remote areas and the resourceful and creative business practices used by remote Aboriginal entrepreneurs to overcome barriers to success and finds that ongoing connections to community and culture are a key factor in that success. It also draws on the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals to identify how the characteristics of remote tourism entrepreneurs and enterprises promote or inhibit the achievement of sustainability and suggests that they offer a framework for effective support of remote Aboriginal entrepreneurs. It concludes by noting that the industry would benefit from further investigation of the contributions made to sustainability by remote Aboriginal tourism enterprises and their stakeholders.

Suggested Citation

  • Skye Akbar & Rob Hallak, 2019. "Identifying Business Practices Promoting Sustainability in Aboriginal Tourism Enterprises in Remote Australia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(17), pages 1-18, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:11:y:2019:i:17:p:4589-:d:260438
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Kristina Sehlin MacNeil & Sheelagh Daniels-Mayes & Skye Akbar & Jillian Marsh & Jenny Wik-Karlsson & Åsa Össbo, 2021. "Social Life Cycle Assessment Used in Indigenous Contexts: A Critical Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(9), pages 1-14, May.
    2. Guych Nuryyev & Yu-Ping Wang & Jennet Achyldurdyyeva & Bih-Shiaw Jaw & Yi-Shien Yeh & Hsien-Tang Lin & Li-Fan Wu, 2020. "Blockchain Technology Adoption Behavior and Sustainability of the Business in Tourism and Hospitality SMEs: An Empirical Study," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(3), pages 1-21, February.

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