Bundaberg Tourism Marketing Manager, Ellie Tonkin, is one of the best representatives for the Bundaberg Region you can find. We would know as our travel journalist, Kate Webster, just spent a week exploring the area with her.
Travel Monitor caught up with Ellie for this week’s Talking Travel. Here is what she had to say.
What does your job involve?
As the marketing manager of Bundaberg’s Regional Tourism Organisation, I oversee the marketing department as we deliver Destination Marketing for the Bundaberg Region. Each year, we deliver an enormous number of projects which are focused on sharing remarkable, authentic visitor experiences that highlight the destination’s point of difference in a crowded global marketplace, through targeted and strategic destination marketing.
Day to day, my role is deeply varied – we’re a small region that wants to play hard and we’re constantly seeking new opportunities to grow our share of voice. In one day, I may swing between implementing strategy, delivering reporting for our stakeholders, executing a PR campaign, overseeing my incredible team’s delivery of our integrated digital marketing, and assisting a member who needs our experience or just some reassurance. We have to be nimble and I am so lucky I work with a team and a member base who are truly some of the greatest people I’ve ever met.
How have you tackled the difficulties caused by COVID-19?
With patience, agility and rum!
We are a not-for-profit, membership-based organisation so we have spent a great deal of the past 2 years providing support and clarity to our regional tourism industry as they navigate these challenging times.
From the offset, we recognised our industry needed information interpreted and easily available to enable them to get on with the business of keeping their doors open; capability building and training; a voice at local, state and national level; and, at times, emotional support as they faced enormous adversity, and we worked hard to fill that role quickly and continuously. We knew that strong communication and even stronger relationships would be the key to navigating the constant changes of the new world of COVID.
With the COVID environment restricting visitation to domestic guests, and with intrastate and interstate destination marketing competition fierce, we turned our marketing activities on its head. We played to our region’s strengths, stay true to our successful strategies of the past while remaining as flexible as we could be in the face of changing consumer trends and needs, and being proactive in a rapidly evolving environment.
Our marketing and PR activities focussed on our accessibility from south-east Queensland, our position at the start of the Great Barrier Reef, our food and drink icons and turtles, supported by a welcoming community, passionate operators and pristine natural environments.
A surge of people dreaming and researching holidays close to home meant that the Bundaberg region experienced an incredible uplift of visitors early in July 2020 that has remained strong ever since. We are forever grateful to have been so well supported by Australian travellers and to be subject to very limited day-to-day impacts from COVID, and do not take our situation for granted for even a second. In spite of snap lockdowns in our core visitor markets, reduced tourism & hospitality workforce and the daily balance between the highs of a strong visitor economy and the lows of constant uncertainty with the next outbreak always on the horizon, our industry has worked hard and delivered consistently.
What do you enjoy most about your profession?
Easily, the people.
Regional tourism is driven by the passion of a lot of incredible individuals who want to share our little patches of paradise with others. The people I work with here in Bundaberg have displayed incredible resilience and positivity over their years in business and they make the Region a beautiful place to live, to work and to visit. Some of our members I also class as my closest friends, and I am so fortunate to work with them and for them in my role here.
What are the biggest challenges for you in your profession (outside of COVID-19)?
The changes in consumer behaviour are very hard to map at the moment. Our tried-and-true destination marketing strategies of 2019 and earlier have been wiped – we are required to be far more responsive, often on a day-to-day basis, which is both exhilarating and exhausting.
As a small RTO, we have to be resourceful to make ourselves known. I work with a team that are passionate and plucky, who are constantly pushing themselves for more because they love what they do and who they do it for. However, with things changing so quickly and consumers wanting more, sometimes it feels like there just isn’t enough time in each day to get it all done. We are constantly looking at ways to streamline what we do to ensure we remain focused on delivering what our guests are looking for in an authentic and noticeable way.
What do you think are the biggest challenges the industry faces?
While borders are opening across the nation and bubbles with other countries are being developed, it will be some time before we see true confidence returning and domestic and international travel returning to what it was before. The tourism industry has been one of the hardest hit and will be one of the last to recover, and we must rally together to push through the physical and emotional exhaustion as we look to the future.
Remaining agile in these circumstances will be important. Travellers will want ongoing flexibility in their travel plans, which can put big pressure on small businesses as they are having to ride the waves that COVID is making with tiny teams. There are some pretty significant movements that the industry is embracing with gusto, especially the opportunity to take a lead in sustainability and eco-conscious business practices.
What do you think will be the biggest game-changer in the travel industry in the next 12 months’?
The reopening of domestic and international borders will see everything change again. The marketplace will be more crowded than ever before and consumers will be spoiled for choice as destinations fight for their travel dollars. I am excited to see how this impacts how we travel – will slower, more thoughtful travel prevail, and will domestic travel remain strong in spite of international opportunities? Will consumers be seeking the best deal, or will they choose experiences more aligned to their values than to their wallets?
What destination/travel trend do you think is the next big thing?
Two key trends we will see in 2022 and beyond include awareness of the environment and our impact on local communities; and a growing demand for Indigenous Australian experiences.
Even more COVID, big conversations were taking place about the cost of travel to the world and to the communities tourism was affecting. Responsible travel, reducing our environmental footprint, and protecting the places we value will be at the forefront of tourism in the coming years.
Demand for Indigenous tourism is also increasing right across Australia, as visitors seek to experience the stories and wisdom of the world’s oldest continuous culture.
What are your thoughts on responsible travel and how do you try to implement this in your workplace?
Here in the Bundaberg region, our spectacular natural environment plays an enormous role in our daily lives. Our entire community, as well as our tourism industry, is passionately devoted to the preservation of our marine life and the Southern Great Barrier Reef they call home, our beaches and their role in the lifecycles of endangered turtles, and our vast farmland and hardworking locals who grow 25% of Australia’s fresh produce.
Every day the people in our community and our local businesses make sustainable choices to help preserve our natural surrounds for generations to come. From implementing eco-friendly packaging to no-waste policies and practices that minimise run-off into our oceans, we are proud to be a region continually striving for, and innovating to be even more sustainable.
We are very conscious of the regional tourism industry’s role in sustainability and in education through experience. The region, in a close partnership with Bundaberg Regional Council and the tourism industry, is currently undertaking Eco Destination Certification, which is built on a strong, well-managed commitment to sustainable practices and high-quality, nature-based tourism experiences within the region.
Who inspires you most and why?
I have spent my life surrounded by strong women – relatives, bosses, co-workers. When I think about who I want to be when I grow up, I invariably throw to the passionate women who have shaped my sense of self and taught me self-worth, self-acceptance and self-confidence.
What is your must-pack travel item(s)?
I swear by packing cubes. I have two small and very energetic boys who travel in a cloud of dirt, toy cars and noise, and a husband who would misplace his head if it wasn’t permanently attached. I have to move fast and be ultra organised if I’m going to get through a family holiday without losing everything we bring, so I rely on a system of colour-coded packing cubes to contain the flotsam and jetsum of family life on the road.
Who would you invite on your next holiday if you could choose anyone and where would you go?
This year I have been fortunate to have some long weekends with my best girlfriends, where we are not mothers or wives or employees or bosses, but just us. I would love nothing more than to escape to the tropics with them – bottomless cocktails, amazing food and the best company is restorative for one’s soul.
Contact Email: ellie.tonkin@bundabergregion.org
Images: Ellie Tonkin. Photo Credit – Bundaberg Now
