Garma Festival, 13-17 August 2002
Forum: Indigenous People and the Environment

Sustainable Tourism

1. It is crucial to educate both the tourism industry and visitors to Aboriginal lands and communities to have greater understanding of and respect for Aboriginal cultural and spiritual knowledge.
2. There is a need to establish and maintain Indigenous control over the development of Indigenous cultural tourism and the kinds of tourism experiences delivered to visitors.
3. Proper community planning processes must be put in place to ensure that communities understand how tourism affects cultural and environmental assets and to guarantee sustainability over generations.
4. Tourism is often only one of many Indigenous community activities and must be integrated with land use planning to be compatible with other land uses as well as cultural practices.
5. Practical education, relevant training, and mentoring need to be delivered wherever possible at the local community level.
6. In resourcing Indigenous tourism, there needs to be practical, business- based outcomes delivered to communities and individuals, not just theoretical planning documents that sit on shelves.
7. The Respecting Our Culture (ROC) Indigenous Accreditation Program developed by Aboriginal Tourism Australia is endorsed as a tool to help manage and guide the tourism industry and Indigenous communities in protecting and strengthening cultural, environmental, social and business sustainability for Indigenous communities.
8. In order to broaden the knowledge and skills base for Indigenous tourism operators, access to opportunities for Yolgnu to have Work Experience with Indigenous tourism operators in other regions is required to learn how tourism businesses work and to get general exposure to the industry.