Bookabee Tours Australia

Overview

Haydn Bromley

Products and services

Bookabee offers a variety of experiences ranging from guided cultural walks of the Botanic Gardens or Adelaide Zoo to extended tours of the Flinders Ranges from two to five days.

Bookabee caters for travellers who are looking for up-market accommodation and authentic Aboriginal cultural experiences. Guests have the opportunity to enjoy bush-food morning teas in timeless locations, share the history and stories of Adnyamathanha people, and dine on gourmet cuisine.

Photo courtesy SATC.

On the Extended Tours Bookabee’s Director and Lead Tour Guide, Haydyn Bromley takes visitors on a trip into his traditional homeland, the Flinders Ranges. Visitors will hear Creation stories of the Adnyamathanha people at traditional significant sites and see ancient paintings and engravings. They learn about the social history of the area in beautiful locations, whilst enjoying damper and a cup of native billy tea.

The Flinders Ranges is home to the Adnyamathanha people whose rich and vibrant heritage and culture dates back over 45,000 years. Adnyamathanha Yura (Aboriginal Person) Muda (stories) tells of ancestral spirits such as the two Akurras (giant snakes sometimes called rainbow serpents in other cultures) who created and shaped the land. The mountains, animals and birds, plants, waterholes and springs all have special connection and importance to the Adnyamathanha people. Looking into the Adnyamathanha historical and cultural perspectives of the Flinders Ranges area will enrich visitors’ knowledge of this beautiful part of the country and bring new depth to their experiences. In turn this will bring new understanding and appreciation of the relationship between Aboriginal people and their land.

Photo courtesy SATC.

On the Short Tours Bookabee offers the opportunity to learn about the local Adelaide area and the social history of early Aboriginal life. They explore cultural environments, taste native bushfoods and learn about Australian animals.

Bookabee’s focus is predominantly culture based and features a range of different experiences that offers tour guests Adnyamathanha perspectives through visiting sites of cultural and spiritual significance and hearing interpretations of Aboriginal cave paintings, rock engravings, creation stories and bush tucker.

Ownership, Management and Key staff

Bookabee Australia Pty Ltd is an Aboriginal owned and operated tour company. They have two working Directors and are currently looking to employ additional staff as tour guides and drivers.

The key people driving Bookabee are Haydyn Bromley and Lele Sanderson, they are well supported by industry with a close connection with Caroline Densley (Director: Diverse Travel Australia).

Bookabee Transport

As a fully licensed and accredited Commercial Tour Operator (CTO), Bookabee Director (and primary tour guide), Haydyn Bromley draws from the knowledge and experiences learned from influential people like his grandfather, a senior initiated Adnyamathanha man, and other family members, to position Bookabee as a market leader in the provision of genuine Aboriginal immersion experiences in South Australia.

Haydyn is an Aboriginal man and descendant of the Adnyamathanha, Yarluyandi and Narrunga groups of peoples and takes pride in his strong connection with his Adnyamathanha heritage from the Flinders Ranges in South Australia. He has direct family ties to the Flinders Ranges and has spent many years travelling the local area. He is also well-accustomed to, and experienced in outback life and travel.

Haydyn Bromley transitioned from a career in education (where he was a celebrated educator /classroom teacher of 20 years and a cultural adviser to a variety of organisations), to a career in tourism. At Bookabee, Haydyn combines his skills in education, his passion for tourism and his commitment to furthering improvements in Aboriginal community and affairs.

As a tour guide, he is able to make the most of his education skills to provide an all-inclusive holistic tourism experience for his tour guests.

Philosophy

Bookabee’s philosophy is to portray and promote Aboriginal culture in a positive light that embraces the cultural and social fabric of Aboriginal and Adnyamathanha society. Bookabee offer genuine cultural immersion experiences that can only be had by touring with an experienced Aboriginal owned and operated tour company. Authentic personalised Aboriginal experiences are central to their underlying philosophy, as is putting the visitor first and taking pride in attention to detail.

Bookabee Tours Australia is passionate about challenging negative stereotypes and attitudes in a positive, subtle and non-threatening manner and presenting information that allows tour guests to draw on and challenge their own conclusions and understandings. Their principal goal is to portray a positive image of Aboriginal Australia and to acknowledge and promote the diversity and vibrancy of Aboriginal culture and society providing guests with immersion experiences that leave them thirsting for more. They are striving to challenge negative attitudes and beliefs and demonstrate that economically viable Aboriginal owned and operated tourism enterprises can be achieved. They strive to leave guests with a memorable and unique experience focussed on cultural knowledge and heritage.

Goals, Strategies and Outcomes

Challenges

According to Bookabee Director Haydyn Bromley, Bookabee have experienced a few challenges since commencing in 2005. In his own words these are:

As the owners of Bookabee Australia Pty Ltd, the first main challenge we experienced was convincing funding bodies like Indigenous Business Australia that we had the potential to be a viable tour company and to provide us with funding without having to offer our right arms as security. As a commercial business, we faced the problem that many people outside the tourism industry did not have a true sense of how a tourism based enterprise establishes itself and the length of time it takes to become internationally recognised within the industry. It has taken Bookabee 3 years and next year will be the first year that we will commence a tourism season with the hope that we are internationally brochured and may receive some wholesale and international bookings through this process.

The second problem with the lack of understanding about Aboriginal communities that appears to be prevalent within Government funding bodies is that they all assume that people wishing to start business all own a house… Well I know John Howard and his government is out, but get real… most Aboriginal people still don’t own houses and I am one of them. It has been extremely difficult getting funding as a result of not owning a house. The application process was long, arduous and costly for Bookabee as it delayed our launch and growth considerably.

International perception of Cultural Tourism

Unfortunately, due to a few fingers being burned, many international wholesalers and some local Inbound Tour Operators (ITO) for that fact, are reluctant to brochure Cultural Tourism product. Due to some bad experiences, they shy away from establishing partnerships with Bookabee because as one wholesaler put it “we can not be confident that when we book a tour, you will be around to carry it out”.

Bookabee has embarked on a campaign of regular contact with international wholesalers and ITO’s to reassure them that we are serious about our commitments and will be around for the long haul.

We have begun the process of regular and reliable networking to ensure that they think of Bookabee Tours Australia when they want to make a culture based booking. This campaign has come at some expense, we have exhibited at the Australian Tourism Exchange in 2006 (cameo appearance) and 2007 (full delegate). We have registered and are preparing to participate again in 2008 in Perth at an estimated cost of over $8,000.00.

Federal Government invasion of Northern Territory

This could not have come at a worse time. The publicity and attention that this has drawn has correlated with a reduction of the number of hits to the Bookabee website, www.bookabee.com.au. For internationals desiring an Aboriginal cultural experience, it has now planted the seed of doubt in their minds as all Aboriginal men have been portrayed as drunks, paedophiles, and domestic abusers. This is something that the federal and state governments must deal with this as a matter of priority as it will kill culture based tourism as surely as a cancerous growth. It is the responsibility of state and federal governments in conjunction with key stakeholders to develop strategies to counteract the negative impact of the Howard government invasion.

Lack of capital capacity to compete head on with established market leaders in tourism

Bookabee Tours Australia’s initial funding application was developed to give Bookabee a head start in competing head on with market leaders. Unfortunately at the suggestion of IBA representatives, the initial loan application amount was halved as they suggested it would be more likely to get approved. This was the eventual case but it left Bookabee starting on the back leg not in a position of strength like we had originally envisaged. My suggestion would be for future funding applicants to adhere to their principles and not let themselves be downgraded. We have weathered the storm pretty well, but it would have been a hell of a lot easier if we started from a position of strength in the first place.

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