Some Alternatives to Think About

You may already know which type of tourism business you want to start, or you may still be exploring which type of tourism business will best suit you and your family. Some choices to consider include:

• Accommodation: bed & breakfasts, chalets, safari tents, resorts, lodges, cabins, home stay, hotels, motels, campgrounds
• Transportation: bus or coach driver, rental cars, charter boats, ferries, caravan or camper trailer hire, rail, air transport operator
• Attractions: museums, cultural centres, art galleries, theme parks
• Tour operators: bush tucker tours, 4wd tag-along tours, guided town tours, adventure tours, cruise and fishing tour operators, local sightseeing tours, guided kayaking tours
• Tourism hire and retail: souvenir sales, art and artefact sales, kayak hire, beach umbrella hire, kiosk
• Bookings: tour desk, travel agent, inbound operator, wholesaler, online tour and accommodation sales
• Tourism restaurant: preparing and selling meals to tourists eg mud crab, bush foods, fish, or restaurant attached to accommodation facility

Other Factors to Consider

You should consider the following factors when deciding what type of tourism product or service to offer:

• What tourism products or services are people already offering, in your area (competition).  Sensis has collated a report detailing how many of each type of tourism businesses there are in Australia.  This is available to subscribers on the Decipher website
• How much demand there is for your proposed type of business, in your area
• Is your family/ community set up suited to your proposed business type
• Is your location suited to your proposed business type
• How will people get to you and find out about your product
• Is what you are proposing to do going to be sustainable
• How many days/ hours per week will you need to work (and does this suit your other commitments)
• Do you have sufficient capital to set up the business