Indigenous experiences play an important role in the region’s tourism plan, with 78 per cent of WA visitors placing high value on Aboriginal culture.
With each locale offering individualised cultural experiences, MAPTO chief executive Karen Priest said local tourism providers can give tourists a unique experience.
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“A visitor’s Aboriginal cultural experience will be unique to each location as they will be learning about the cultural knowledge, heritage and stories of the traditional owners of the land they are on,” she said.
“On an Aboriginal culture tour or experience in the Peel region, a visitor will hear their stories of the Bindjareb People, the custodians of the land and waterways of this region, and learn about how they lived off the land and cared for country.”
An example of this is Mandjoogoordap Dreaming’s Woggaal’s Noorok tour, which visits the wetlands and Lake Clifton’s thrombolites.
The 2000-year-old thrombolites site is of significance to the Bindjareb people, with it playing a role in how they interpreted the location through creation beliefs.
”Tourism product in the region including Aboriginal Cultural Experiences, continues to grow,” Ms Priest said.
“Bindjareb Park, who recently hosted a degustation dinner on the Aboriginal six seasons, is planning to develop further experiences in food tourism.
"Westside Tours, who launched in March, have an Aboriginal cultural tour through the forest around Forest Discovery Centre with Maitland Hill.”
Ms Priest said the development and growth of the awareness of Aboriginal tourism products has been assisted by the State Government and the Royalty for Region’s program.
“Aboriginal tourist ventures have been around for a while but not well-supported in the past,” Mandjoogoordap Dreaming’s George Walley said.
“What we have right now, I'm a recipient of being a successful applicant to do with the Royalties for Regions and that's gotten me and the business a start.
“That comes from the State Government, to Tourism WA, to WAITOC (Western Australian Indigenous Tourism Operators Council) and then down to me.
“As I said, in the past that structure wasn't in place so we'd go for a while and then it didn't work because that wasn't in place.”