Sector: Nature Tourism
Business Plan for Monkey Mia Reserve, Shark Bay World Heritage Area
Monkey Mia, within the Shark Bay World Heritage Area, Western Australia, is an ecotourism attraction where each morning a pod of dolphins swim into shore, to mix with wading visitors and gently take fish on offer. This project undertook visitor research identify unmet needs and experiential gaps in the attraction. We also identified target markets … Read more
Destination Management Plan for Albury
The planning process for this Destination Management Plan integrated both demand (the visitor or consumer needs) and supply (the product or experience). While the geographic area that this Plan focuses on is the Local Government Area of Albury, it also proposed a number of cooperative initiatives with the City of Wodonga, given its close proximity … Read more
Destination Management Plan for Moorabool Shire
Despite being just an hour’s drive west of Melbourne, Moorabool had low market awareness and was an immature destination. We conducted a brand compatibility match to the events, to determine which ones were helping build brand strength, and an event calendar that contrasted industry demand for stimulus with the supply of events, and colour coded … Read more
Destination Management Plan for Riverina Murray region, NSW
The Riverina Murray visitor economy region in NSW encompasses 149,000 square kilometres, the third longest navigable river in the world, 16 National Parks, two RAMSAR listed wetlands, one World Heritage Listed area 22 local government areas and is home to over 275,000 people. The purpose of preparing this DMP was to ensure the visitor economy … Read more
Destination Management Plan for Wellington Shire, NSW
We prepared a Destination Management Plan for the Wellington Shire, NSW. This included: An analysis of the regional visitor market. An analysis of the regional tourism product. An analysis of regional events. An analysis of regional tourism brand and marketing. The brand analysis involved a competitor analysis that included Parkes, Dubbo, Mudgee and Wellington, then … Read more
Ecotourism and cultural tourism product audit for Uganda
As part of a situation analysis, we undertook an audit of destinations, ecotourism and cultural tourism products across Uganda. Our product audit involved: A detailed description of the existing experience Justification notes supporting the scores from the course assessment Issues associated with holding back the success of the product Outline of opportunities to significantly improve … Read more
Feasibility assessment for visitor centre
Over many years, there have been many operational issues and constraints with the Tidbinbilla Visitor Centre in the Australian Capital Territory. Some of the issues include poor accessibility, poor building performance and outdated interpretation. The first aim of this project was to prepare an over-arching functional review of the Tidbinbilla Visitor Centre, integrating the findings … Read more
Iconic Product Development Strategy for Shipwreck Coast
The Shipwreck Coast, located three hours drove from Melbourne, is one of Australia’s coastal tourism icons. It is one of the top visited destinations in Australia, receiving 2M visitors per annum; mostly from China and Asia. However, key sites like the 12 Apostles have outdated visitor infrastructure and are becoming over crowded. There is also … Read more
Iconic Tourism Product Development Strategy, addressing cultural tourism, eco-tourism and faith/religious tourism
Trade Mark East Africa, Uganda Tourism Board and the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities asked us to develop four iconic tourism products for Uganda. The aim of this project was to create some more ‘Wow factor’ for Uganda, by creating several more iconic products for the country. We were asked to develop iconic products for … Read more
Investment Plan to develop Nature Tourism in Colombia
We concepted the following WOW factor products to drive nature tourism in Nariño, Colombia: Adventure Tourism Hub that includes an integrated glamping operation in the Juanambú Canyon Glamping in the tree canopy for birdwatchers and their families in the misty forests of the Ñambi Reserve Experiences in coastal and wetland ecosystems accompanied by high-level accommodations, … Read more
Investment Strategy and Prospectus for Albury Wodonga
The Destination Management Plan for Albury Wodonga proposed many product development initiatives that require funding to proceed. Some of these initiatives are naturally positioned for the public sector to fund, some for the private sector, and a small number could be funded as partnerships. This project has been conceived by AlburyCity and the City of … Read more
Master Plan for South Head, Sydney Harbour National Park
SMA Tourism is currently working with TKD Architects and Context Landscape Architecture to develop a Master Plan for South Head within the Sydney Harbour National Park, NSW. Our contribution to this project has included
Master Plan for Western MacDonnell Ranges and Hermannsburg, Northern Territory
Working with the Tourism Northern Territory, Tourism Central Australia, Northern Territory Heritage Commission, Office of Aboriginal Affairs and Central Land Council, we: undertook extensive consultation with local Aboriginal people; conducted product audits and determined product gaps; developed draft product development strategies and concepts for major product proposals; developed a Masterplan for the region; priced the … Read more
Nature Tourism Strategy for Canberra Region
We developed a nature tourism strategy for the Canberra region. The process to developing this strategy included: analysis of market data (qualitative and quantitative) to determine growth segment opportunities for product development / reinvigoration and marketing stimulus; stakeholder consultation, including an online survey testing the potential to stimulate the VFR sector; an extensive product audit … Read more
Nature Tourism Strategy for Narino, Colombia
In Nariño, nature tourism offers enormous potential to create employment and help achieve national development goals for poverty alleviation, economic growth and the conservation of the department’s unique natural and cultural resources wealth. The Nariño nature tourism offer is relatively passive (based on looking rather than doing) and there is a lack of experiences. However, … Read more
Pre-feasibility study for Indigenous themed and operated campground at Minninup Pool, Collie, WA
This project sought to help the township of Collie (south west of Western Australia) transition from a coal fire power station to a more diverse economy. After consulting with a range of tourism stakeholders and visiting a range of existing and potential local tourism / recreation experiences, we identified two catalytic tourism projects. Minninup Pool … Read more
Product Development Strategy and Master Plan for Wonga Wetlands
The Wonga Wetlands were established to manage local waste water, but the regular water supply has created a nature-based tourism attraction featuring diverse birdlife. The client wanted the attraction to be reinvigorated to have the potential to attract significant overnight visitors to Albury (and a subsequent economic benefit). We conducted an extensive analysis of the … Read more
Product Development Strategy for dive, ecotourism, cultural tourism and adventure tourism
As a tourism destination, the Solomon Islands only receives a small number of visitors and has them spread out over a vast archipelago. Australian tourism consultants were appointed to develop a Tourism Product Development Strategy. The team consisted of a tourism product development specialist, marketing specialist, infrastructure specialist, consultation specialist and a quantity surveyor. An … Read more
Recovery Plan for Nature-based tourism in Colombia
USAid engaged Colombian based CREATA and SMA Tourism to assess the feasibility of major investment in nature based tourism in former conflict regions of Colombia. To achieve this we undertook: an analysis of the tourism and nature tourism market pre and during the COVID-19 pandemic; separate primary market research into international and domestic markets, and … Read more
Review of Digital Marketing of Vanuatu, Samoa, New Caledonia and Solomon Islands
Supporting a marketing review for the Solomon Islands, we reviewed the digital marketing being done by Vanuatu, Samoa and New Caledonia. We undertook a comparative analysis of: a Google image search against the images used by each countries destination website;an analysis of the representation of the destination website images against the destination brand essence and … Read more
Strategic Plan for the Hume and Hovell Track, NSW
The Hume and Hovell Track (the Track), which stretches 426km between Yass and Albury in New South Wales, Australia. SMA Tourism prepared a Strategic Plan to address the ‘big picture’ of what the Track should be and what is needed to achieve this. This Strategic Plan proposed to transform the Hume and Hovell Track: The … Read more
Strategies to mitigate climate change for tourism, Maldives
Simon facilitated a one-day workshop with 50 Maldives tourism stakeholders. He first provided a presentation on the likely impact of climate change on tourism in the Maldives, and potential solutions to mitigate against the impacts. Simon then facilitated smaller groups to further develop the solutions so that they reflected the local situation, including available resources … Read more
Sustainable tourism management in the transboundary areas of the Dinaric Arc
Complete Title: Sustainable tourism management in the transboundary areas of the Dinaric Arc region: manual for planning, development and monitoring of tourism in the protected areas of the Dinaric Arc. Publication page
Sustainable Tourism Model for Shoalhaven Region
Organisations have plans to manage what they want to do. However, a plan is written in one moment of time. The more time passes, the more chance that a plan can become out of date. Models are designed not to go out of date. A model is like a living, constantly adapting plan. We are … Read more
Sustainable Tourism Monitoring and Adaptive Management Model for Exuma Cays, Bahamas
Exuma Cays, in the Bahamas, is an archipeligo of mostly uninhabited 120 limestone cays. The Exumas have two major cays with communities living on them, and another 12 cays with resorts on them. The region is regarded as one of the most natural areas in the Bahamas, and about half of the area is a … Read more
Tourism Development Plan for Townsville Region
SMA Tourism produced a Tourism Development Plan for Townsville City and the Townsville region. The region incorporates Burdekin to the south, Charters Towers to the west, Magnetic Island to the east and Hinchinbrook to the north. Our work included: review of current target markets versus current visitor data; review of current brand versus current marketing; … Read more
Tourism Opportunity Study and Product Development Strategy for Collie, Western Australia
Collie is a township in Western Australia whose economy is largely tied to coal mining and coal-based power generation. The demand for coal fired energy in Western Australia is diminishing, due to a surplus of power and moves away from high carbon to low carbon generating sources. To avoid a long-term decline in business confidence … Read more
Tourism Optimisation Management Model for Kangaroo Island
This ground breaking project extended the Limits of Acceptable Change (LAC) model to a more tourism friendly monitoring and adaptive management system called TOMM (Tourism Optimisation Management Model). TOMM operates at a regional level – across Kangaroo Island in South Australia, best known for its seal interaction. We developed the model through extensive consultation, then … Read more
Anne Teddy Awori
Anne joined SMA Tourism in 2015 to undertake iconic tourism product development and is based in Uganda. She has a solid understanding of Uganda’s tourism industry and sound knowledge and familiarity of Uganda’s existing and potential tourism attractions and activities. She has a vast network of Ugandan tourism stakeholders, solid skills in public, private sector … Read more
Anne-Maria Mäkelä
Anne-Maria joined SMA Tourism in 2015 to undertake iconic tourism product development in Uganda and is based in Finland. She has 20 year’s’experience working across the World in sustainable tourism, marketing and product development. She has become highly accomplished in tourism stakeholder consultation in developing countries, across public, private sector and non-governmental sectors. Anne-Maria’s focus … Read more
Annoncita Batamuriza
Annoncita (Anny) joined SMA Tourism in 2020 to develop religious tourism in Rwanda and is based in Rwanda. She has 22 years’ experience in tourism development and tourism marketing in Rwanda. Her tourism career evolved from managerial positions in international hotels, to that of a part time consultant for hotels and government and full-time manager … Read more
Carolina Gonzales
Carolina joined SMA Tourism in 2019 to develop a nature tourism plan and investment plan for Narino, Colombia, and is based in Colombia. She has solid experience in the design and implementation of policies, plans and the development of projects to promote sustainable tourism in protected areas generating benefits for local communities simultaneously utilising personal … Read more
Charlotte Beauvoisin
Charlotte brings over 20 years marketing experience and almost 15 years’ experience living and working in Uganda. She is a professionally qualified marketing manager, tourism consultant, digital marketing trainer, guidebook writer, travel blogger and social media influencer. Charlotte is the author of Diary of a Muzungu, Uganda’s best-known travel blog that she launched in 2008 … Read more
Daysy Angeles
Daysy started working with SMA Tourism as an Associate in 2019, including the development of a Nature Tourism Strategy and investment prospectus for the Colombian region of Narino. Daysy has 15 years of experience as a tourism manager, designing, planning and managing tourism projects. She has led project teams at a National level in Peru … Read more
Emma Doyle
Emma joined SMA Tourism in 2013 to develop a Sustainable Tourism Model for the Bahamas, and is based in Brisbane, Australia. Emma is an environmental management professional with 17 years’ experience working in Latin America and the Caribbean. Her experience covers some 70 international cooperation projects and stretches across a range of themes related to … Read more
Glenn Berrill
Glenn joined SMA Tourism in 1999 to prepare a Heritage Landscape Management Plan that supported the redevelopment of the former North Head Quarantine Station into a boutique cultural tourism attraction, and he is based in Melbourne, Australia. Glenn has worked with SMA Tourism on Site Master Plans and Product Development Strategies in various parts of Australia. … Read more
Jane McArthur
Jane joined SMA Tourism in 2015 as the food, wine, hospitality, health and wellness tourism expert, and is based in Newcastle, Australia. Jane has 20 years’ experience in tourism and hospitality business development, operations and marketing – developed through operating her own café, catering and food production business. She blends lateral thinking, creative concepts and … Read more
Jim Ayorekire
Jim started working with SMA Tourism as an Associate in 2016, supporting the development of an Iconic Tourism Product Development Project for Uganda. Jim has 20 years’ experience as an academic researcher, consultant and educator in the areas of destination planning and management, tourism product mapping, wildlife-based tourism assessment, wildlife community-based tourism management, protected area … Read more
Johnny Lopez
Johnny is a highly accomplished and versatile Director. From entertainment to sport, his work has covered award winning short films, television, music videos, commercials, promos, station idents and news. Sport – Motorsport in particular — has figured prominently, his directing assignments including Le Mans, the Porsche Carerra Cup and the Ferrari Challenge Asia Pacific Series. … Read more
Julián Huerfano
Julián joined SMA Tourism in 2018 to develop nature tourism and an investment plan in Colombia, and then a Nature Tourism Recovery Plan for Colombia, and is based in Colombia. He has 15 years’ experience in administration, finance, social investment and project management relating to sustainability and tourism. During the last 10 years, he has … Read more
Julie Hawkins
Julie has 33 years’ experience as a graphic designer and Julie has worked with SMA Tourism for 30 years. She specialises in design for publications, interpretation signs, interpretation displays and exhibitions for visitor centres and museums. Her projects range from visitor orientation signage at Uluru in the Northern Territory, guides supporting the Convict Trail around … Read more
Karl Flowers
Karl joined SMA Tourism in 2014 to lead tourism market analysis, economic impact assessment and policy design, and he is based in Melbourne, Australia. Karl has 25 years’ experience as a tourism industry specialist working as a Tourism & Aviation Economist and acting Director Strategy and Research for Tourism Australia, General Manager Policy and Research … Read more
Lintang Ayu Nugrahaning Tyas
Lintang joined SMA Tourism as an Associate in 2020, and is based in Indonesia. She has 15 years’ experience in tourism and related disciplines. Her focus is on tourism planning and sustainable tourism development in rural and conservation areas. She is also experienced in working in remote areas with different cultures, and has significant experience … Read more
Marcello Notarianni
Marcello joined SMA Tourism in 2016 to play frequent roles in international projects and is based in Spain. He has over 22 years of experience in sustainable tourism development, including market analysis, special interest tourism product development and feasibility studies. Within SMA Tourism, Marcello focuses on sustainable tourism policy, product development, marketing strategies and self-financing … Read more