July 2, 2025 • 35 mins
In this invigorating episode of the Tourism Hub Podcast, host Despina Karatzias reflects on the vital role of tourism in Australia and the importance of strategic planning as we enter a new financial year. With insights drawn from the latest research by Tourism Research Australia, Despina highlights the resilience of over 360,000 tourism-related businesses and the significance of solo operators and micro businesses in shaping the industry.
Listeners are encouraged to take this opportunity for reflection and to reset their business visions. Despina shares personal anecdotes from her 14-year journey in tourism training and development, emphasising the need for actionable strategies to turn ideas into results. She poses essential questions to help entrepreneurs evaluate their past year, celebrate successes, and learn from challenges.
The episode also delves into the concept of having the right support system in place, akin to having a coach in your corner, as you navigate the ups and downs of business. Despina invites listeners to reconnect with their mission, values, and the impact they wish to make in their communities.
With a focus on strategic business vision, Despina outlines ten key questions that can guide tourism professionals in aligning their goals and actions for the upcoming year. This episode is a must-listen for anyone looking to elevate their tourism business and foster meaningful experiences for their guests.
00:42 Tourism Industry Insights and Statistics
03:39 Celebrating 14 Years of Excellence
06:15 Reflecting on the Past Financial Year
14:13 Strategic Business Vision and Action
33:59 Final Thoughts and Encouragement
Connect with Despina Karatzias:
Website: Institute of Excellence
LinkedIn: Despina Karatzias
Instagram: @despinakaratzias
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Show hosted by Despina Karatzias and brought to you by Tourism Hub in association with Institute Of Excellence.
Stay inspired, stay connected, and remember to share your journey in tourism with the world!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
>> Despina Karatzias (00:05):
Welcome to the Tourism Hub podcast. A podcast
devoted to you and your excellence,
providing inspiration and education for
the entrepreneurs, experience makers and
excellent seekers of our industry to take
your tourism business and career to a whole
new level.
(00:31):
Tourism is a force for good. When we get it right, it
creates jobs, builds communities and
showcases the best of who we are.
And the numbers tell a powerful story.
According to the latest research by Tourism Research
Australia, Also known as TRA,
as of June 2024, Australia is
(00:51):
home to over
360,000
tourism related businesses. This makes
up 30, 13.5% of all
Australian businesses and that's an
11% increase since the pre pandemic
era of 2019. Even
more remarkable, 78% of
(01:12):
these businesses are solo operators
or micro businesses and almost half
turn over less than $20,000
annually. That's an ecosystem
made up of heart hustle,
incredible resilience and like the
epitome of doing what you love.
(01:34):
Hello, hello and welcome to the Tourism
Hub podcast, brought to you by the
Institute of Excellence, the home of
tourism and small business
greatness. Through our training and our,
mentoring. I am your host,
Despina Karazias and it's really, it's such
a joy to be with you today for another
(01:56):
episode of the Tourism Hub. if you haven't already,
please subscribe, share this episode with a
fellow experience maker and if you would
be so kind to leave a, review. It really
does help us spread the excellence
and spread the tourism love.
Now, this latest snapshot, tourism
businesses in Australia, published by
(02:18):
Tourism Research Australia in March
2025, highlights
just how diverse,
decentralised and crucial our
sector is to Australia's
overall economy. So what can
we learn from this? First, we
learn and we appreciate that small
(02:40):
business is the beating heart and
soul of our industry. Second
is that despite economic
turbulence and a post C
word recovery path, we're still
growing baby. Third
is that now is the perfect time
(03:00):
to pause and refocus
because yes, my dear beautiful tourism
brothers and sisters, it's the start, of a new
beautiful financial year.
Hello,
FY2526.
And that's really what I want to centre today's energy
episode on is to
(03:22):
explore how to use this time of
year to reset your strategic
business vision and most importantly,
turn those ideas and visions
into action and results.
I want to get a little personal here too, because
today also marks a very special
(03:43):
milestone for me. It's been been 14
years, 1414
since I really, I transitioned into
tourism industry training and development
and officially launched what would become
the Institute of Excellence. Fourteen
years of
reinvention, community
(04:06):
A, few tears, some from laughter, some
from bit of pain, let's be
honest. but you know, spreadsheet
stage, light stories and strategy.
It's you know, if there's one thing that I've
learned over this past, you
know, decade plus, it's this,
that we can have plenty of great
(04:29):
ideas, but they are only
valuable, when we validate them and
ignite them and set those
actions to take them on and bring
them to life. So happy business
birthday to I O E
and a heartfelt, really thank you to everyone who's
(04:51):
been part of the journey and thank you to you for tuning in and
listening. Friends, families, clients,
collaborators, champions and you know, the
entire community. We're all here because
we love this industry and we want to make it
a sustainable, sustainable and enjoyable
and have more businesses stay in business
(05:12):
and continue to start new businesses.
And because when a tourism business starts
and when a tourism business delivers, it means
that we are experiencing
something. We are giving an
opportunity to people to explore,
to create an adventure, to
(05:33):
reset to, to be mindful.
Like our industry just gives the
so many gifts. but when we look at
the businesses that are delivering on this,
we really, you know, that's what I want to focus on. That's why I
get up every single day
to help my business
community not just stay in business,
(05:55):
but really elevate and
continue to deliver great
experiences.
So this is it. That's where this episode is
dedicated to you. And we start with
talking business vision. Every business,
whether you're just starting, whether you want to start,
you're bubbling with something of an idea.
(06:17):
I remember, you know, my business has been around for 14
years, but there was something bubbling
inside me for many, I feel like many
years before that. So whether you're just starting,
starting or thinking or you're
seasoned and scaling, I
believe anyone can benefit from
taking a moment to reflect. And this is
(06:40):
a great time of year. I certainly, I'm in the same.
I stand and I sit right next to
you and around you here in the same
boat or the balloon. At the
start of this financial year, you know,
starting now, I really, if you haven't taken
the time yet, I really encourage you
to sit and pause and
(07:02):
do some reflection because I feel like it just rolls
on one after the other and we just don't take
a minute, take a minute, take a minute to kind
of go, what just happened?
And that's it. Just a few key
questions to ask yourself in wherever you're
sitting in business or in your career
(07:23):
to really think about what went
really well this past financial year.
What did I nail, what did I do new, what did
I experiment with or what did I continue
to do that went really well. And of course
the flip side to that, what didn't go so
well? I know for me, I mean what didn't go
(07:44):
so well for me, I experienced,
I tried to avoid it at all costs but for me
my personal health didn't go so
well. I became so
stretched that I let go of, of the things
that help me function as a well
rounded human. So that's something that I'm
really taking on board. How can I
(08:06):
not just for this financial year, never
let that happen again. How can I frame
my work and my days
and what I can start to kind of really
say no to, to really
continue to do what also makes me
feel, feel really good. So what didn't
(08:28):
go so well for you, for me is
I let myself not, you know, it
wasn't even last on the list. I just didn't even make the list
for most months of this financial year.
What were your highlights and what were your
lowlights? So if you think about what's the year
that was that there was some things
that bought so much joy into
(08:50):
your work and what didn't
give you so much joy, think about
that. And we want to really do this
to honour one, we're ah,
working at such a fast pace, we don't just sit
and even, sometimes yours
truly, even the smallest of
celebration, we just kind of move on to the next thing.
(09:13):
So I want you to take a moment to think about that for
you and of course, what did
you learn? What was the greatest
learning of the year
for you and more,
you know, last but not least action that you'll
take forward into this new financial year.
(09:34):
So you know, just to repeat what went really well,
what didn't go so well, what were your
highlights and your low lights, what
was the greatest learning and
what action will you take moving
forward in this financial year? So for me,
you know, there were things that went really well,
(09:54):
really well financially,
community wise, some work I was
just, you know, I worked with some people
and some humans and collaborated in a
way that you know, it's the stuff I
dreamt about in 14 years
ago. But of course what didn't
go so well was just like not
(10:16):
prioritising health at all
which you know, gave that translated into the
low lights. What I learned is
exactly what we're talking about. Put
strategic actions in
place for goals to be achieved. But
also daily practises and
actions that I take forward that I actually started on,
(10:38):
you know, a month ago in terms
of like, yeah, physical
fitness is really important to me. Going out,
and enjoying a morning run
feeds my soul. I let it go. I
let it go. And now just being back and
doing new things, you know, boxing, who would have
thought? And boxing is actually, it's just, it's,
(11:01):
it's been remarkable. I have gotten into that
boxing before, but it's been really
my metaphor for boxing and it does
relate to, just hang in there with me,
you know, in boxing. And something that
I keep saying now to myself as
I continue on a new fresh
year is, and I want to encourage
(11:24):
you to think the same. Who's in your
corner? It's just been the
most exhilarating workout
and test of coordination and
power. But it also, every time
I feel finish being completely
debilitated after like a real hour
(11:45):
of power, it's been something that I
think about, okay, who will I have in my
corner for my business and
my life? But more so, I mean I just, I
do think about business and
outcomes 247 it's like,
okay, who will you have in your corner when you're getting
the absolute poo emoji kicked
(12:08):
out of you and you go back into the
corner to reset, regroup? Who's going to
be there to wipe off the sweat, put stuff up
your nose because you're bleeding, right? Because
business can be brutal. Just like you're in a
boxing ring. Sorry. It's just something that I've been
mulling on every time and I have come back off
a morning session. It was week four this week
(12:31):
and I'm just loving it. Not that, I mean I, I'm not
a fighter, but I love the workout, I love
partnering. I partner with someone different every
week. And every time I do it, I think
about, oh my God, people
actually do this as a sport. And the
punches that you kind of give and that you cop,
they're doing this to their, you know, to, to
(12:53):
people. But you know, what's business?
You go out into the work, into the world to
win, right? To win. To win for your
clients, to win for your guests, to win for our
industry. You heard, we're still in
business. We've recovered from post pandemic.
But we have to also take stock
(13:14):
of our personal health and
well being and
base our surroundings with
people, services,
contractors that will help us, help us
with the wins, but also help
us, keep Showing up in our best selves.
Sorry, that's all I'll say. I wasn't, you know, that wasn't part of
(13:36):
the plan. But I have been thinking about, okay,
who's to go to the next
level as we do reflect and I've done
this piece of work for my own business. I think, well,
who's going to be in my corner moving
forward and who's going to be more importantly
in your corner to help you with your, you know,
(13:57):
when you think about your team, when you
think about your, your business and your
surrounds and your environment,
it's so important. So going back to
centre this simple
reflection exercise is more than
just planning. It's about getting those
wheels aligned again. So
(14:19):
we're staying on our path. It's a
chance to reconnect with why
you started this business in the first place or
why you started a career in tourism.
Reconnect with what makes
you, you, your mission, your
values and the impact that you want to make.
(14:41):
The impact that you want to leave
your guests, your customers, your
visitors in. What will you do to
ensure that their stay
is better because that you had an
involvement in it.
And that's where this concept of strategic
(15:01):
business vision in action comes
into play. I recently
delivered this very content
in a half day workshop on this topic to
a group of. Oh my God. That were just the best group
of inspiring business owners through the Venture
Melton Business Network. The
(15:22):
energy in the room was just electric and
the clarity, the breakthroughs and
the shared wisdom reminded me
why I started this business.
Because you know, when you've got businesses that are in there that are
saying, I've been 10 years in business and I've never done
this, I've never actually created
(15:43):
a plan for my business. All the work
that I've been doing with the quality Tourism framework
and my family and brothers and sisters at
vtic for our industry, like
having placing value in
planning really does, we are better
for it. It helps us get better results
(16:03):
than if we didn't, kind of like
if we didn't have it in the first place. And that is that. Great
analogy. Anywhere we want to go,
we get in the car and we place our destination.
You know, it's after repetitive visitation that
we know where we're going, we don't need to do that anymore. But
in the first instance, if we want a
(16:23):
different result, a different destination
for our businesses, we've got to get to planning
and set that up, put that on the map
for us. And the best part
about this workshop, that I delivered
recently is that I've also transformed that
live session into a new online course,
(16:44):
Strategic Business Vision Turning
Ideas into Action. So if you're ready to
move from, you know, any level of
overwhelm or the opposite, being
stuck or unmotivated or,
you know, like feeling funky from
ideas to outcomes and results, I
encourage you and I invite you to check it out. And
(17:05):
because you know, you're a podcast listener, use the
code tourismhub75 at
checkout and a sweet little surprise will be
there at the checkout for
you. But, you know, that's not
like, of course that's something there. It's available to
you. But if you're not ready for a course,
no problem at all. That's what this episode is for,
(17:29):
something that you can do right now to,
to reset your strategy.
And that's what I'm going to share with you now. Just,
I frame 10 strategic
questions to help you with that
reframe and reset to
realign your business goals
as you reset a new page
(17:50):
on your financial landscape.
So let's go. That's why, you know, the
trainers are boxing. Fire up, fire up. I
love it. I absolutely love it. I want to do that for our,
businesses, for our industry. Come on, let's go.
Power. Yeah.
So, okay, back to centre. When we
talk about mission
(18:14):
and we talk about vision,
I love the whole concept of
Simon Sinek and starting with
why. And if you haven't
thought about that for some time,
M. Why does your business exist?
If you don't have a business,
(18:35):
why will your future business
exist? And if that's just something that you're not
interested in, why,
why are you called to do what you're currently
doing right now? So in
terms of your mission, whether you
are a full time, gainfully
employed human of tourism
(18:58):
or we are here talking about
our business and our experience making.
What is your mission and why does your
business exist? Because that
launches into that real problem
solving. What problem am I solving
for our, industry through my
(19:20):
work? At the end of the day,
wherever we sit, that's the main thing.
What problem are we solving? What is
making our visitors, our,
colleagues? What is it about
why your business
and your role exists that helps
(19:40):
others be better today than they were
yesterday? Okay, so what is your mission
and why does your business exist? I encourage you,
whether it's, you know, pause,
write it in your notes, keep it for later in
a journal, it's good, good
stuff to do and go through. Okay?
(20:01):
Your vision for the next 12 months. So now we're
resetting. It's the 1st of July 2025.
At the time of recording this episode,
what do you want to be celebrating
come 30 June 2026?
This is where we're placing your vision
for the next 12 months. Think about 30
(20:22):
June 2026. What is it that's gonna be
really like, getting you pumped and
celebrating about what it is that you've achieved?
If you've done any level of values work
in your time, it's
always a good time to reflect, write them
down. I have my values, you know, I like.
(20:43):
It's another story. But I did that with my family
when they were little and I love it. I got
a whiteboard out and we did our values together. Because
that's something that I realised
I'm doing. Everything I was doing was
for business, for my own or for the business
I'm leading or managing. But in
(21:03):
terms of. But I needed to recognise,
well, what's my core as
Despina Karatius? Because that
then helped frame my business
values.
So what are your core values as
an individual that will then
really help guide every decision that
(21:24):
you need to make? And as you know,
go on the daily. We're making a lot of decisions
constantly, some big, some, some small.
But when you're guided by your values,
then it makes it. It's a very empowering experience.
And I. And you know, again, I
speak nothing that I haven't gone through and
done myself. Even what I am, sharing with
(21:47):
you here, it's something that I have
gone down this path and I'm refining my
strategic. It's like, okay, it's 14 years.
What does the next 12 months and beyond look
like? The most important people
in all of our businesses are our
guests, our visitors, our, customers, our,
(22:07):
passengers. Who is that
ideal customer that you serve and
what journey do they go on with you?
Many a time, we've heard the whole travel
journey, you know, from planning to
booking to experiencing. But
I really want you to think about what does that
(22:27):
journey look like, what, for
your customer? Because
that's something that really, that
changes, right? So if we are
not thinking about, not just our
visitors, what our visitor looks like, but
what does your ideal visitor look like?
(22:48):
So that piece of work around,
okay, demographics,
psychographics, because we go back
to the problem that you solve, the
more clear you can become
on who you're solving it for,
then the ripple effect of how it can
(23:08):
help you with other elements of your business,
from marketing to product
Development to building your
relationships with your distributors and your
agent. Network changes
and becomes more focused and
strategic. So think about that.
Not only who, do I serve, but who
(23:31):
is my ideal
visitor that I want to serve and what
journey are they going on? With my business
and my experience, we can't
have a conversation about this without
swatting it out. And I
encourage, if anyone's been in my workshop, there's not,
(23:51):
there's not a topic that we can't discuss
or a new experience or a new package
or anything of that nature,
that this simple SWOT strategy
doesn't solve. So when in doubt, swat it out.
Right now, in the current environment, in
this season, in this part of the year,
(24:13):
when what are, your biggest strengths, your biggest
weaknesses, your biggest opportunities and
your greatest threats? We must
always mitigate our risk
in case of an emergency.
Disruption in our
industry is, look, you know,
(24:35):
has many different lenses now.
So the more where we are aware and
in tune and on the pulse, the
better we can set actions to mitigate.
So your greatest
strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and
threats. But when you do this, also
apply that next step to that of
(24:57):
like, okay, what's an action? I've
recognised this is a weakness. What will
I do? And that comes, you know, that comes back
to having the right people in your corner.
That's definitely something that I'm taking on
into this year, recognising the weaknesses
and then being able to say, well,
what will I do here? Will I hone in
(25:20):
and focus on this weakness of
mine and build a new skill just like the box,
you know, just like learning boxing, which is
really challenging my coordination, whether
I'm copping the punches or giving the punches.
But what will that look like, you know, or
will I outsource and bring someone that can help me in
(25:40):
my corner with that to go to that next step.
Goals. If we don't
have a goal, we're just like, floating in the
wind. We're just, like, hoping, we're praying,
we're just like, I hope I just keep doing what I'm doing
and hopefully it will stick and,
we'll do better next year. Smart
(26:01):
frameworks. Smart goals. Being specific,
being measurable, being attainable, being
realistic and being timely.
What does that goal look like for you?
And you know, that's many different areas of your business.
Of course, financial goals start
there kind of a big deal to be
earning money, like to feed
(26:24):
ourselves and our families. But what does that look
like in turn, like for us to achieve a
financial goal? Okay, what does that look like
every then, every quarter, every
month, every week, we are a
seasonal beast. So how will
we mitigate that? So that when it's
hay and when mate, you know, and the sun's shining and we're
(26:47):
making the hay also what, how will we
mitigate the low season? And of course
then we look at your business model. What does
that currently look like? Is it
sustainable now? Sustainable in many different
areas in terms of like sustainable for
self, Is it sustainable for me to
do this in the current, in my
(27:09):
current infrastructure? And of course, is
it sustainable in terms of like
our footprint, our environmental
footprint? Is it sustainable? I
go back to them, the finances, you
know, we have responsibilities as
business owners. Is it sustainable
(27:29):
in the, in the term like you know, can we honour
our tax obligations? So look at
your business model. Ask yourself that very
question. Is it sustainable? How
much, you know, how long can I survive in the
current environment? If, you know, we go back to looking
at our threats eyes wide open.
(27:50):
And of course when you are you know,
just that pillar of financial
goals, what does that look like?
What did last year look like? Or the last
little while, you know, depending on where you are
at in your journey. So
and for the again, and I say this now mean I
(28:11):
know I centre a lot of my work
helping business development,
business owners and, and managers upskill,
and being powered to, for growth and
development. But I think for all of us,
what are our financial goals here
in right now? What did last
(28:31):
year, what did the last 10 years look like? What do we want
it to look like moving forward? I know
for me my financial goals like, you know, and it
was personal for me at the beginning, the first,
the first five years of my business, my big
financial goal was, you know, it was
centred around personal goal of paying off
(28:52):
our mortgage. So that helped make different
decisions. So in business
now the financial goal has really shifted
to, I've shifted my mindset to
how many people can I help? Because that just
resonates better with me. So the more people
that I'm helping, the more workshops I'm
(29:13):
delivering, the more one on ones I'm doing
that sits better with me because I
know, okay, the more people I'm helping, the
more I'll be able to live
to celebrate. 15th year in business,
16th year in business. So what
does that look like for you? What do your financial
(29:34):
goals look like? How many people,
how many humans did you serve? Came
on your experience the year before? And what do
we want to achieve moving forward? Because you can
see right these are broad, these are 10 questions for you to
think about. But then when it comes to actions
and putting these into
(29:55):
our pillars for all
sides of our business, operations,
marketing, sales,
customer service, this is where
all these wheels need to be aligned and you know, on
the same tracks, on the same tracks to work. And
that's where we lead to your marketing
strategy to attract, to
(30:17):
serve and most importantly to
retain. Because in our wonderful
industry and like many industries,
we have our consumer arm
where we are serving and
attracting and retaining customers
that come to us direct. But we have
our industry arm, our trade arm, who
(30:40):
are also our customers. Now they are valuable
customers because whether they are an overseas
trade relationships, trade relationship
or wholesaler or retailer or an online
travel agent, how we
attracting, serving and retaining
those relationships in, in our
(31:01):
thought strategy, in the way that we market
and nurture
so that, that again the will doesn't stop.
We have a momentum and a continuum
and of course how will
you stay accountable my friends with a
12 month roadmap and a
(31:22):
90 day action plan moving forward.
So this is all about, let's look at the year
ahead and then one it's once that happens
like okay, we've got the next you
know, we've got quarter one. Now what do I have
to nail in quarter one that will help me
achieve the big goal in your first
(31:43):
90 day action plan?
So what is the first three months look like if we need to
kick up a gear? It is so important.
I can't stress enough in all of the work that I've
done, especially over the, you know, over the
last 20, 30 years of just
managing and leading, being in a
(32:04):
privileged and honourable position to be
in charge of the result of a business.
This is, it's critical, it's critical
the. So these aren't just questions. I hope you can kind of
look at this as strategic
scaffolding to turn that vision
that you have into something that is visible,
(32:25):
into something that you and your
team can track, you can measure and
you can refine. Because it's one thing to
say, oh, you know, like we're not
performing but if we're not actually
coming back to this and say well we said we're going to
do this this first quarter, how
(32:46):
have we fed up. So
it's my favourite kind of work
to do with my
experience making
extraordinaires like you.
It is something that is so important
really. This is my favourite work.
(33:06):
Bettering, bettering our industry,
bettering ourselves, bettering our businesses.
Because the more work that
you invest in doing,
the proactive work, the less we're
reactive and the more we can
win. But we gotta know. We've gotta know what the
(33:27):
win looks like. So if
today's episode has sparked a little
something something, a little fire
in your beautiful visitor
economy belly to reignite your
strategy, I invite you to take that next step.
Whether that's downloading a workbook,
(33:47):
signing up for my course or any course,
or simply sitting with a blank journal
and answering the questions we just covered
hand on heart. I know will make you better.
And that's a wrap. I could keep going on and on,
but I think we've got a day that we need
to address and work that we've got to attend
(34:08):
to.
so that's it for today's episode of the Tourism
Hub, brought to you by the
Institute of Excellence. Happy birthday,
my little baby. The home of tourism
and small business greatness.
If this episode did give you
some clarity, some motivation, or a
teeny inch of inspiration, I'd love you to
(34:31):
subscribe, leave a review, and share it with
someone who may need it at the moment.
Ignite excellence and go out there and
be better and do better today
and this financial year than you
did yesterday and last week. Financial year.
Happy new Financial Year, everyone.
(34:52):
Relax.
Welcome to the Tourism Hub podcast. A podcast
devoted to you and your excellence,
providing inspiration and education for
the entrepreneurs, experience makers and
excellent seekers of our industry to take
your tourism business and career to a whole
new level.
(00:31):
Tourism is a force for good. When we get it right, it
creates jobs, builds communities and
showcases the best of who we are.
And the numbers tell a powerful story.
According to the latest research by Tourism Research
Australia, Also known as TRA,
as of June 2024, Australia is
(00:51):
home to over
360,000
tourism related businesses. This makes
up 30, 13.5% of all
Australian businesses and that's an
11% increase since the pre pandemic
era of 2019. Even
more remarkable, 78% of
(01:12):
these businesses are solo operators
or micro businesses and almost half
turn over less than $20,000
annually. That's an ecosystem
made up of heart hustle,
incredible resilience and like the
epitome of doing what you love.
(01:34):
Hello, hello and welcome to the Tourism
Hub podcast, brought to you by the
Institute of Excellence, the home of
tourism and small business
greatness. Through our training and our,
mentoring. I am your host,
Despina Karazias and it's really, it's such
a joy to be with you today for another
(01:56):
episode of the Tourism Hub. if you haven't already,
please subscribe, share this episode with a
fellow experience maker and if you would
be so kind to leave a, review. It really
does help us spread the excellence
and spread the tourism love.
Now, this latest snapshot, tourism
businesses in Australia, published by
(02:18):
Tourism Research Australia in March
2025, highlights
just how diverse,
decentralised and crucial our
sector is to Australia's
overall economy. So what can
we learn from this? First, we
learn and we appreciate that small
(02:40):
business is the beating heart and
soul of our industry. Second
is that despite economic
turbulence and a post C
word recovery path, we're still
growing baby. Third
is that now is the perfect time
(03:00):
to pause and refocus
because yes, my dear beautiful tourism
brothers and sisters, it's the start, of a new
beautiful financial year.
Hello,
FY2526.
And that's really what I want to centre today's energy
episode on is to
(03:22):
explore how to use this time of
year to reset your strategic
business vision and most importantly,
turn those ideas and visions
into action and results.
I want to get a little personal here too, because
today also marks a very special
(03:43):
milestone for me. It's been been 14
years, 1414
since I really, I transitioned into
tourism industry training and development
and officially launched what would become
the Institute of Excellence. Fourteen
years of
reinvention, community
(04:06):
A, few tears, some from laughter, some
from bit of pain, let's be
honest. but you know, spreadsheet
stage, light stories and strategy.
It's you know, if there's one thing that I've
learned over this past, you
know, decade plus, it's this,
that we can have plenty of great
(04:29):
ideas, but they are only
valuable, when we validate them and
ignite them and set those
actions to take them on and bring
them to life. So happy business
birthday to I O E
and a heartfelt, really thank you to everyone who's
(04:51):
been part of the journey and thank you to you for tuning in and
listening. Friends, families, clients,
collaborators, champions and you know, the
entire community. We're all here because
we love this industry and we want to make it
a sustainable, sustainable and enjoyable
and have more businesses stay in business
(05:12):
and continue to start new businesses.
And because when a tourism business starts
and when a tourism business delivers, it means
that we are experiencing
something. We are giving an
opportunity to people to explore,
to create an adventure, to
(05:33):
reset to, to be mindful.
Like our industry just gives the
so many gifts. but when we look at
the businesses that are delivering on this,
we really, you know, that's what I want to focus on. That's why I
get up every single day
to help my business
community not just stay in business,
(05:55):
but really elevate and
continue to deliver great
experiences.
So this is it. That's where this episode is
dedicated to you. And we start with
talking business vision. Every business,
whether you're just starting, whether you want to start,
you're bubbling with something of an idea.
(06:17):
I remember, you know, my business has been around for 14
years, but there was something bubbling
inside me for many, I feel like many
years before that. So whether you're just starting,
starting or thinking or you're
seasoned and scaling, I
believe anyone can benefit from
taking a moment to reflect. And this is
(06:40):
a great time of year. I certainly, I'm in the same.
I stand and I sit right next to
you and around you here in the same
boat or the balloon. At the
start of this financial year, you know,
starting now, I really, if you haven't taken
the time yet, I really encourage you
to sit and pause and
(07:02):
do some reflection because I feel like it just rolls
on one after the other and we just don't take
a minute, take a minute, take a minute to kind
of go, what just happened?
And that's it. Just a few key
questions to ask yourself in wherever you're
sitting in business or in your career
(07:23):
to really think about what went
really well this past financial year.
What did I nail, what did I do new, what did
I experiment with or what did I continue
to do that went really well. And of course
the flip side to that, what didn't go so
well? I know for me, I mean what didn't go
(07:44):
so well for me, I experienced,
I tried to avoid it at all costs but for me
my personal health didn't go so
well. I became so
stretched that I let go of, of the things
that help me function as a well
rounded human. So that's something that I'm
really taking on board. How can I
(08:06):
not just for this financial year, never
let that happen again. How can I frame
my work and my days
and what I can start to kind of really
say no to, to really
continue to do what also makes me
feel, feel really good. So what didn't
(08:28):
go so well for you, for me is
I let myself not, you know, it
wasn't even last on the list. I just didn't even make the list
for most months of this financial year.
What were your highlights and what were your
lowlights? So if you think about what's the year
that was that there was some things
that bought so much joy into
(08:50):
your work and what didn't
give you so much joy, think about
that. And we want to really do this
to honour one, we're ah,
working at such a fast pace, we don't just sit
and even, sometimes yours
truly, even the smallest of
celebration, we just kind of move on to the next thing.
(09:13):
So I want you to take a moment to think about that for
you and of course, what did
you learn? What was the greatest
learning of the year
for you and more,
you know, last but not least action that you'll
take forward into this new financial year.
(09:34):
So you know, just to repeat what went really well,
what didn't go so well, what were your
highlights and your low lights, what
was the greatest learning and
what action will you take moving
forward in this financial year? So for me,
you know, there were things that went really well,
(09:54):
really well financially,
community wise, some work I was
just, you know, I worked with some people
and some humans and collaborated in a
way that you know, it's the stuff I
dreamt about in 14 years
ago. But of course what didn't
go so well was just like not
(10:16):
prioritising health at all
which you know, gave that translated into the
low lights. What I learned is
exactly what we're talking about. Put
strategic actions in
place for goals to be achieved. But
also daily practises and
actions that I take forward that I actually started on,
(10:38):
you know, a month ago in terms
of like, yeah, physical
fitness is really important to me. Going out,
and enjoying a morning run
feeds my soul. I let it go. I
let it go. And now just being back and
doing new things, you know, boxing, who would have
thought? And boxing is actually, it's just, it's,
(11:01):
it's been remarkable. I have gotten into that
boxing before, but it's been really
my metaphor for boxing and it does
relate to, just hang in there with me,
you know, in boxing. And something that
I keep saying now to myself as
I continue on a new fresh
year is, and I want to encourage
(11:24):
you to think the same. Who's in your
corner? It's just been the
most exhilarating workout
and test of coordination and
power. But it also, every time
I feel finish being completely
debilitated after like a real hour
(11:45):
of power, it's been something that I
think about, okay, who will I have in my
corner for my business and
my life? But more so, I mean I just, I
do think about business and
outcomes 247 it's like,
okay, who will you have in your corner when you're getting
the absolute poo emoji kicked
(12:08):
out of you and you go back into the
corner to reset, regroup? Who's going to
be there to wipe off the sweat, put stuff up
your nose because you're bleeding, right? Because
business can be brutal. Just like you're in a
boxing ring. Sorry. It's just something that I've been
mulling on every time and I have come back off
a morning session. It was week four this week
(12:31):
and I'm just loving it. Not that, I mean I, I'm not
a fighter, but I love the workout, I love
partnering. I partner with someone different every
week. And every time I do it, I think
about, oh my God, people
actually do this as a sport. And the
punches that you kind of give and that you cop,
they're doing this to their, you know, to, to
(12:53):
people. But you know, what's business?
You go out into the work, into the world to
win, right? To win. To win for your
clients, to win for your guests, to win for our
industry. You heard, we're still in
business. We've recovered from post pandemic.
But we have to also take stock
(13:14):
of our personal health and
well being and
base our surroundings with
people, services,
contractors that will help us, help us
with the wins, but also help
us, keep Showing up in our best selves.
Sorry, that's all I'll say. I wasn't, you know, that wasn't part of
(13:36):
the plan. But I have been thinking about, okay,
who's to go to the next
level as we do reflect and I've done
this piece of work for my own business. I think, well,
who's going to be in my corner moving
forward and who's going to be more importantly
in your corner to help you with your, you know,
(13:57):
when you think about your team, when you
think about your, your business and your
surrounds and your environment,
it's so important. So going back to
centre this simple
reflection exercise is more than
just planning. It's about getting those
wheels aligned again. So
(14:19):
we're staying on our path. It's a
chance to reconnect with why
you started this business in the first place or
why you started a career in tourism.
Reconnect with what makes
you, you, your mission, your
values and the impact that you want to make.
(14:41):
The impact that you want to leave
your guests, your customers, your
visitors in. What will you do to
ensure that their stay
is better because that you had an
involvement in it.
And that's where this concept of strategic
(15:01):
business vision in action comes
into play. I recently
delivered this very content
in a half day workshop on this topic to
a group of. Oh my God. That were just the best group
of inspiring business owners through the Venture
Melton Business Network. The
(15:22):
energy in the room was just electric and
the clarity, the breakthroughs and
the shared wisdom reminded me
why I started this business.
Because you know, when you've got businesses that are in there that are
saying, I've been 10 years in business and I've never done
this, I've never actually created
(15:43):
a plan for my business. All the work
that I've been doing with the quality Tourism framework
and my family and brothers and sisters at
vtic for our industry, like
having placing value in
planning really does, we are better
for it. It helps us get better results
(16:03):
than if we didn't, kind of like
if we didn't have it in the first place. And that is that. Great
analogy. Anywhere we want to go,
we get in the car and we place our destination.
You know, it's after repetitive visitation that
we know where we're going, we don't need to do that anymore. But
in the first instance, if we want a
(16:23):
different result, a different destination
for our businesses, we've got to get to planning
and set that up, put that on the map
for us. And the best part
about this workshop, that I delivered
recently is that I've also transformed that
live session into a new online course,
(16:44):
Strategic Business Vision Turning
Ideas into Action. So if you're ready to
move from, you know, any level of
overwhelm or the opposite, being
stuck or unmotivated or,
you know, like feeling funky from
ideas to outcomes and results, I
encourage you and I invite you to check it out. And
(17:05):
because you know, you're a podcast listener, use the
code tourismhub75 at
checkout and a sweet little surprise will be
there at the checkout for
you. But, you know, that's not
like, of course that's something there. It's available to
you. But if you're not ready for a course,
no problem at all. That's what this episode is for,
(17:29):
something that you can do right now to,
to reset your strategy.
And that's what I'm going to share with you now. Just,
I frame 10 strategic
questions to help you with that
reframe and reset to
realign your business goals
as you reset a new page
(17:50):
on your financial landscape.
So let's go. That's why, you know, the
trainers are boxing. Fire up, fire up. I
love it. I absolutely love it. I want to do that for our,
businesses, for our industry. Come on, let's go.
Power. Yeah.
So, okay, back to centre. When we
talk about mission
(18:14):
and we talk about vision,
I love the whole concept of
Simon Sinek and starting with
why. And if you haven't
thought about that for some time,
M. Why does your business exist?
If you don't have a business,
(18:35):
why will your future business
exist? And if that's just something that you're not
interested in, why,
why are you called to do what you're currently
doing right now? So in
terms of your mission, whether you
are a full time, gainfully
employed human of tourism
(18:58):
or we are here talking about
our business and our experience making.
What is your mission and why does your
business exist? Because that
launches into that real problem
solving. What problem am I solving
for our, industry through my
(19:20):
work? At the end of the day,
wherever we sit, that's the main thing.
What problem are we solving? What is
making our visitors, our,
colleagues? What is it about
why your business
and your role exists that helps
(19:40):
others be better today than they were
yesterday? Okay, so what is your mission
and why does your business exist? I encourage you,
whether it's, you know, pause,
write it in your notes, keep it for later in
a journal, it's good, good
stuff to do and go through. Okay?
(20:01):
Your vision for the next 12 months. So now we're
resetting. It's the 1st of July 2025.
At the time of recording this episode,
what do you want to be celebrating
come 30 June 2026?
This is where we're placing your vision
for the next 12 months. Think about 30
(20:22):
June 2026. What is it that's gonna be
really like, getting you pumped and
celebrating about what it is that you've achieved?
If you've done any level of values work
in your time, it's
always a good time to reflect, write them
down. I have my values, you know, I like.
(20:43):
It's another story. But I did that with my family
when they were little and I love it. I got
a whiteboard out and we did our values together. Because
that's something that I realised
I'm doing. Everything I was doing was
for business, for my own or for the business
I'm leading or managing. But in
(21:03):
terms of. But I needed to recognise,
well, what's my core as
Despina Karatius? Because that
then helped frame my business
values.
So what are your core values as
an individual that will then
really help guide every decision that
(21:24):
you need to make? And as you know,
go on the daily. We're making a lot of decisions
constantly, some big, some, some small.
But when you're guided by your values,
then it makes it. It's a very empowering experience.
And I. And you know, again, I
speak nothing that I haven't gone through and
done myself. Even what I am, sharing with
(21:47):
you here, it's something that I have
gone down this path and I'm refining my
strategic. It's like, okay, it's 14 years.
What does the next 12 months and beyond look
like? The most important people
in all of our businesses are our
guests, our visitors, our, customers, our,
(22:07):
passengers. Who is that
ideal customer that you serve and
what journey do they go on with you?
Many a time, we've heard the whole travel
journey, you know, from planning to
booking to experiencing. But
I really want you to think about what does that
(22:27):
journey look like, what, for
your customer? Because
that's something that really, that
changes, right? So if we are
not thinking about, not just our
visitors, what our visitor looks like, but
what does your ideal visitor look like?
(22:48):
So that piece of work around,
okay, demographics,
psychographics, because we go back
to the problem that you solve, the
more clear you can become
on who you're solving it for,
then the ripple effect of how it can
(23:08):
help you with other elements of your business,
from marketing to product
Development to building your
relationships with your distributors and your
agent. Network changes
and becomes more focused and
strategic. So think about that.
Not only who, do I serve, but who
(23:31):
is my ideal
visitor that I want to serve and what
journey are they going on? With my business
and my experience, we can't
have a conversation about this without
swatting it out. And I
encourage, if anyone's been in my workshop, there's not,
(23:51):
there's not a topic that we can't discuss
or a new experience or a new package
or anything of that nature,
that this simple SWOT strategy
doesn't solve. So when in doubt, swat it out.
Right now, in the current environment, in
this season, in this part of the year,
(24:13):
when what are, your biggest strengths, your biggest
weaknesses, your biggest opportunities and
your greatest threats? We must
always mitigate our risk
in case of an emergency.
Disruption in our
industry is, look, you know,
(24:35):
has many different lenses now.
So the more where we are aware and
in tune and on the pulse, the
better we can set actions to mitigate.
So your greatest
strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and
threats. But when you do this, also
apply that next step to that of
(24:57):
like, okay, what's an action? I've
recognised this is a weakness. What will
I do? And that comes, you know, that comes back
to having the right people in your corner.
That's definitely something that I'm taking on
into this year, recognising the weaknesses
and then being able to say, well,
what will I do here? Will I hone in
(25:20):
and focus on this weakness of
mine and build a new skill just like the box,
you know, just like learning boxing, which is
really challenging my coordination, whether
I'm copping the punches or giving the punches.
But what will that look like, you know, or
will I outsource and bring someone that can help me in
(25:40):
my corner with that to go to that next step.
Goals. If we don't
have a goal, we're just like, floating in the
wind. We're just, like, hoping, we're praying,
we're just like, I hope I just keep doing what I'm doing
and hopefully it will stick and,
we'll do better next year. Smart
(26:01):
frameworks. Smart goals. Being specific,
being measurable, being attainable, being
realistic and being timely.
What does that goal look like for you?
And you know, that's many different areas of your business.
Of course, financial goals start
there kind of a big deal to be
earning money, like to feed
(26:24):
ourselves and our families. But what does that look
like in turn, like for us to achieve a
financial goal? Okay, what does that look like
every then, every quarter, every
month, every week, we are a
seasonal beast. So how will
we mitigate that? So that when it's
hay and when mate, you know, and the sun's shining and we're
(26:47):
making the hay also what, how will we
mitigate the low season? And of course
then we look at your business model. What does
that currently look like? Is it
sustainable now? Sustainable in many different
areas in terms of like sustainable for
self, Is it sustainable for me to
do this in the current, in my
(27:09):
current infrastructure? And of course, is
it sustainable in terms of like
our footprint, our environmental
footprint? Is it sustainable? I
go back to them, the finances, you
know, we have responsibilities as
business owners. Is it sustainable
(27:29):
in the, in the term like you know, can we honour
our tax obligations? So look at
your business model. Ask yourself that very
question. Is it sustainable? How
much, you know, how long can I survive in the
current environment? If, you know, we go back to looking
at our threats eyes wide open.
(27:50):
And of course when you are you know,
just that pillar of financial
goals, what does that look like?
What did last year look like? Or the last
little while, you know, depending on where you are
at in your journey. So
and for the again, and I say this now mean I
(28:11):
know I centre a lot of my work
helping business development,
business owners and, and managers upskill,
and being powered to, for growth and
development. But I think for all of us,
what are our financial goals here
in right now? What did last
(28:31):
year, what did the last 10 years look like? What do we want
it to look like moving forward? I know
for me my financial goals like, you know, and it
was personal for me at the beginning, the first,
the first five years of my business, my big
financial goal was, you know, it was
centred around personal goal of paying off
(28:52):
our mortgage. So that helped make different
decisions. So in business
now the financial goal has really shifted
to, I've shifted my mindset to
how many people can I help? Because that just
resonates better with me. So the more people
that I'm helping, the more workshops I'm
(29:13):
delivering, the more one on ones I'm doing
that sits better with me because I
know, okay, the more people I'm helping, the
more I'll be able to live
to celebrate. 15th year in business,
16th year in business. So what
does that look like for you? What do your financial
(29:34):
goals look like? How many people,
how many humans did you serve? Came
on your experience the year before? And what do
we want to achieve moving forward? Because you can
see right these are broad, these are 10 questions for you to
think about. But then when it comes to actions
and putting these into
(29:55):
our pillars for all
sides of our business, operations,
marketing, sales,
customer service, this is where
all these wheels need to be aligned and you know, on
the same tracks, on the same tracks to work. And
that's where we lead to your marketing
strategy to attract, to
(30:17):
serve and most importantly to
retain. Because in our wonderful
industry and like many industries,
we have our consumer arm
where we are serving and
attracting and retaining customers
that come to us direct. But we have
our industry arm, our trade arm, who
(30:40):
are also our customers. Now they are valuable
customers because whether they are an overseas
trade relationships, trade relationship
or wholesaler or retailer or an online
travel agent, how we
attracting, serving and retaining
those relationships in, in our
(31:01):
thought strategy, in the way that we market
and nurture
so that, that again the will doesn't stop.
We have a momentum and a continuum
and of course how will
you stay accountable my friends with a
12 month roadmap and a
(31:22):
90 day action plan moving forward.
So this is all about, let's look at the year
ahead and then one it's once that happens
like okay, we've got the next you
know, we've got quarter one. Now what do I have
to nail in quarter one that will help me
achieve the big goal in your first
(31:43):
90 day action plan?
So what is the first three months look like if we need to
kick up a gear? It is so important.
I can't stress enough in all of the work that I've
done, especially over the, you know, over the
last 20, 30 years of just
managing and leading, being in a
(32:04):
privileged and honourable position to be
in charge of the result of a business.
This is, it's critical, it's critical
the. So these aren't just questions. I hope you can kind of
look at this as strategic
scaffolding to turn that vision
that you have into something that is visible,
(32:25):
into something that you and your
team can track, you can measure and
you can refine. Because it's one thing to
say, oh, you know, like we're not
performing but if we're not actually
coming back to this and say well we said we're going to
do this this first quarter, how
(32:46):
have we fed up. So
it's my favourite kind of work
to do with my
experience making
extraordinaires like you.
It is something that is so important
really. This is my favourite work.
(33:06):
Bettering, bettering our industry,
bettering ourselves, bettering our businesses.
Because the more work that
you invest in doing,
the proactive work, the less we're
reactive and the more we can
win. But we gotta know. We've gotta know what the
(33:27):
win looks like. So if
today's episode has sparked a little
something something, a little fire
in your beautiful visitor
economy belly to reignite your
strategy, I invite you to take that next step.
Whether that's downloading a workbook,
(33:47):
signing up for my course or any course,
or simply sitting with a blank journal
and answering the questions we just covered
hand on heart. I know will make you better.
And that's a wrap. I could keep going on and on,
but I think we've got a day that we need
to address and work that we've got to attend
(34:08):
to.
so that's it for today's episode of the Tourism
Hub, brought to you by the
Institute of Excellence. Happy birthday,
my little baby. The home of tourism
and small business greatness.
If this episode did give you
some clarity, some motivation, or a
teeny inch of inspiration, I'd love you to
(34:31):
subscribe, leave a review, and share it with
someone who may need it at the moment.
Ignite excellence and go out there and
be better and do better today
and this financial year than you
did yesterday and last week. Financial year.
Happy new Financial Year, everyone.
(34:52):
Relax.
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