The Tourism CoLab

The Tourism CoLab

Business Consulting and Services

Brisbane, QLD 3,769 followers

It's our approach to designing tourism for a regenerative future that sets us apart.

About us

The Tourism CoLab was founded in response to the need to drive real, sustainable systems change in tourism. We bring innovative, hands-on project experience, deep thinking and creativity to redesigning tourism for places, communities and nature. Our distinguishing feature is that we are environmental planners, community engagement specialists and educators and coaches and have worked in tourism policy and development from local to global levels. We energise and inspire, and seek to unlock the creative genius of local communities, the resilience and tenacity of SMEs, and the innovation borne out of creative thinking and co-design. As a capacity-building social enterprise, our mission is to build systems change through education, curating community-led conversations, and helping businesses innovate within their businesses and ecosystems. We specialise in systems change, redesigning systems, creative thinking and problem solving. - supporting and activating communities - [un]learning so we can think differently - futures thinking, policy research and analysis - community engagement and co-design - tourism organisation [re]design - place identity, place-making and stewardship actions - tourism education, training and coaching - regenerative tourism - collaborative economy - digitalisation and tourism SMEs We work with tourism organisations, governments, communities and business networks to build capacity, co-design and activate destinations, tourism organisations and visitor economies for regenerative, inclusive and sustainable futures.

Industry
Business Consulting and Services
Company size
2-10 employees
Headquarters
Brisbane, QLD
Type
Privately Held
Founded
2019
Specialties
education, tourism, purpose, tourism planning, management consulting, tourism innovation, visitor experience, visitor economy, design thinking, tourism digitalisation, regenerative economy, tourism sustainability, DMO, RTO, regional tourism, regenerativetourism, leadership, organisational change, mindfulness, coaching, research, anthropology, tourism analysys, policy, speaker, tourismpolicy, tourismfutures, regeneration, research, and thought leadership

Locations

Employees at The Tourism CoLab

Updates

  • View organization page for The Tourism CoLab, graphic

    3,769 followers

    How do you thinking about the future? What shapes the way you think? What can't you see or think because of the way you have been educated and trained? These are the fundamental questions we need to address. It takes courage to say we don't have the answers but to start the transformation anyway...

    View profile for Dianne Dredge, PhD, graphic

    Regenerative development | Building resilient places | The Tourism CoLab & Communiversity | Local2030 Islands Network |

    Wrote this blog post a week ago on the #TourismColab because I have been grappling with why listening to lived experience and local knowledge represents an evolution in our #HumanDevelopment #Conciousness. The wisdom of local communities is a missing link in genuine, creative approaches to future challenges. I am despairing at the recent flood of top-down, tone-deaf solutions-based marketing. (Just look at the way the #tourism industry has started to market #NatureRepair and #NaturePositive) Understanding the urgency of the #ClimateCrisis and #BiodiversityLoss requires understanding derived from multiple levels of understanding and experience. To illustrate, take a bonfire: We can think about it analytically (what it is), perceive it from a distance and feel it. But it's the integration of these ways of knowing, layered with memory (e.g. the social experience) and lived experience that creates an integrated understanding. Consider how this applies to communities: We can draw their boundaries on maps (thinking), observe the daily rhythms of a community (perception), and feel the spirit and connection (feeling). Our cognition, memories and lived experiences of community create a rich tapestry of understanding that goes far beyond any single dimension. This multi-layered knowledge is crucial when we try to imagine building resilient communities—without lived experience, our ability to envision and create meaningful community spaces is going to be limited. This has huge implications for how we anticipate the future. Can those inhabiting all those high-level conferences and policy meetings truly understand real transformation happens at the ground level, where people hold this integrated intelligence of head, heart, and instinct? I've seen policymakers go into communities and be afraid of them! I've been in those high-level meetings, and now I can't unsee this: those in communities who watch the seasons change, who carry generations of local knowledge—these are the true agents of change and action. Their systemic intelligence, built through direct experience and deep connection to place, is what we need to navigate our future challenges. Yet our current funding models prioritise those furthest removed from this lived experience—the conference-goers, policy-makers and the template makers who may have never felt the pulse of a local community. To create meaningful change, we need to redirect resources to support those who carry this #EmbodiedWisdom, who understand their communities through thinking, feeling, and deep memory. Only by valuing and empowering this local, experiential knowledge can we build the #resilient, #adaptive communities we need for the future. Please share your thoughts.... the nexus between the change we so desperately need, genuine understanding of the crisis ahead and the resistance (beyond simply fear) is key. Read the post: https://lnkd.in/gfxYB4-X

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  • View organization page for The Tourism CoLab, graphic

    3,769 followers

    🎙 Free public webinar announcement! 🏡 La Buxeida - A Regenerative Ecosystem 📅 Wednesday, 16th October at 6.00pm AEDT / 9.00am CET There is a vast property in northern Spain consisting of natural forests, olive groves, organic agricultural land, pure spring water, a large farmhouse and an ancient ermita, hidden amongst the nature in the foothills of the Pyrenees Mountains. Welcome to La Buixeda🌲🌳. Samuel Izquierdo and Moss Rowsell will be sharing their journey on how they are creating a space to host guests under regenerative principles, and run activities related with well-being and nature. After years of living and working with communities around the world Moss bought this Finca in 2022 with the intention to cultivate an ecosystem of like minded people to thrive, work purposefully and develop their unique gifts in the world; where curiosity, creativity, collaboration, compassion and exchange are channeled into prosperous projects, where people can be supported in their existential quests to live well: healthy of body, intelligent of mind, rich of spirit, respectful of wisdom, creative of beauty and caring of nature. Join us tomorrow on Wednesday at 6.00pm AEDT (Melbourne/Sydney) / 9.00am CET (Paris/Berlin) / 8.00am BST (London) via the following link: https://lnkd.in/g45eqAgt For more information about La Buxeida, please visit the following link: https://lnkd.in/gnNfsgnM Samuel Izquierdo Nadine S. Philippa Benson Sarah Lebski Andrew Keast Dianne Dredge, PhD Tracey Ward Anna Pollock

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  • View organization page for The Tourism CoLab, graphic

    3,769 followers

    I am so very grateful to have attended the #RegionalArtsVictoria Change-makers forum at Apollo Bay this last weekend! The spotlight was on the #FLOAT3909 journey in East Gippsland and how, through a myriad of creative and innovative place making initiatives centred on the arts community, FLOAT is creating a genuine place of welcome, belonging, community, and care. This quite literally is the transformation of tourism into the art of hosting. I never get tied of hearing the FLOAT story: It's borne out of a love of art and place, a commitment to community, and to welcoming visitors who truly want to engage, learn and 'feel' the place. Every single time I listen to Andrea Lane and Josephine Jakobi, new insights emerge. They shared their journey of building the FLOAT art residency program and the experimental artists retreat on Lake Tyers. All of this has been a catalyst for community regeneration, giving artists and creatives connection and pathways into local livelihoods, (which have largely been taken away as a result of funding contractions over the last decades). Anyone who listens to their story and FLOAT’s achievements can’t help but recognise how important the arts are for regenerating places and communities that have been the subject of so much extraction. My insights: 🌻 Only through deep observation and watching a place and the way it changes over time can we understand what is best for a site, a place, and the community. Lived experience and local knowledge are the foundations of successful experimental design. 🌻 Artists are like pioneer species, experimenting and innovating at the edge, and generously sharing what works and why. The rest follow when it’s safe! 🌻 Living systems approach - FLOAT embodies principles of holistic thinking, networked communities, initiatives that support each other, and emergent strategies. 🌻 FLOAT offers a blueprint for building more resilient, innovative, and connected communities and new ways of working and transitioning tourism. 🌻 Arts initiatives like FLOAT are providing essential support in fostering community resilience and social capital but more than that, it’s fostering more waves of creativity, play and connection. The weekend’s event reinforced that the creative sector is not just about cultural enrichment - it's a powerful force for economic and social transformation. It’s necessary for our human development and our evolution to a deeper level of conscious connection with nature and community. Read more here: https://lnkd.in/gdXHUdnm Kudos to #RegionalArtsVictoria for facilitating these important conversations. I'm looking forward to seeing how these ideas ripple out and inspire change across other communities! Such fabulous conversations that last weekend- my cup is full! 🙏💕 #CreativeEconomies #CommunityResilience #ArtsInnovation #RegenerativeTourism #RuralDevelopment

    • Apollo Bay -  Changemarkers event at Apollo bay. Picture of Panel explaining the FLOAT journey
  • View organization page for The Tourism CoLab, graphic

    3,769 followers

    View profile for Dianne Dredge, PhD, graphic

    Regenerative development | Building resilient places | The Tourism CoLab & Communiversity | Local2030 Islands Network |

    In this last decade that we have to make real change happen, we need more resources on the ground, in local communities, and people with the knowledge and lived experience to drive action. So, I want to give a big shout-out to those who are quietly working on new regenerative business models, experimenting with impact-driven change, and are committed to shifting systems and mindsets. In particular, I am incredibly inspired by the brilliant minds and passionate souls who are taking part in our regenerative business development journey. This week we reached our 8th week in this learning journey. We talked about how to recognise businesses that are taking genuine steps toward regeneration, what systems change looks like, and designing and nurturing ecosystems to amplify impact. The wonderful thing about a global cohort is that we can work at the level of place yet tap into the rich tapestry of experience and knowledge that exists in the collective. The journey is less about tourism and more about designing a business model and nurturing an ecosystem that can amplify genuine impact aimed at repairing, restoring and regenerating the social and ecological systems while also being financially sustainable 💚 Here's some broad reflections on the journey so far: 🍃 There is a sense of isolation, even frustration, and separateness from a business world that continues to celebrate outdated, growth-focused business models. There is an overarching understanding that surface-level sustainability isn't enough. 🍃 In a landscape of greenwashing and solutions-marketing, it's important to make the space to lean into the slow, hard, intentional work of authentic transformation. There are tough questions to be asked; and we need to re-learn how to imagine business. We need to think of value creation as layered and multidimensional; to explore how to nourish the ecosystem and build resilience; and we need to nurture collaborative rather than competitive relations. 🍃 There is intelligence in sitting with the mess, the tensions, and discomfort- it comes from an integrated intelligence that we often need to re-learn how to tap into. It can be challenging to let go of the labels, the rules of engagement, the silos, the old tools and templates, and to follow a creative, generative flow. Getting to the heart of the issue, responding with creativity is where innovative ideas and connections are made. 🍃 While generalisation is dangerous, these conversations often reveal a propensity for natural systems thinking, different patterns of sense-making processes, and ways of seeing the world that are not as prevalent in the broader population. "When you see it you can't unsee it" is a phrase that often comes up. So here's a toast to the most wonderful companions on this regenerative business journey 💚 Nadine S. Katie Padilla Lucy Mayes Andrea Lane Laurence Body 🦋 Mona Myran Keeley Warren Sharna Crosbie Derek Cook Paul lacobas

    • A Rustic beehive in the woods made out of recycled timber and hollow logs, old bricks and shingled roofing. The hive symbolises a regenerative, collective approach to building home and belonging
  • View organization page for The Tourism CoLab, graphic

    3,769 followers

    🔊Free public webinar announcement! 🗣 This week on Wednesday 18th September at 6pm AEST / 10am CET, our founder and Director Dianne Dredge, PhD will hold a free public webinar through the Tourism CoLab's Communiversity. Topic: Understanding impact: From positive impact to regenerative approach Recently, we've noticed that positive impact and regeneration are being used interchangeably. The challenge of understanding and conceptualising impact is made more difficult when we hear generic expressions like “regenerative tourism gives back more than it takes” and “visitors should leave a positive impact”.  While these statements are generally true, they lack the necessary substance to convey the holistic net positive approach to impact that is the foundation of regeneration. So it's time to clear up any misunderstandings and to clarify a few terms. In this presentation we take a deep dive into impact, and how we conceptualise and design for impact.  The key point underpinning this presentation is that we are what we measure, and if we don't understand impact, then how can we design for and measure it? Themes covered in this presentation include: 🍃What is the difference between positive impact and regeneration? 🍃 Why is understanding impact and having a conceptual understanding important? 🍃What is impact through a regenerative lens? 🍃What does a regenerative approach to impact look like in practice? Where? Join at the meeting time directly on Zoom here. https://lnkd.in/gEYFb5JE What is the Tourism CoLab's Communiversity? Learn more and join our global community of like-minded changemakers here: https://lnkd.in/ggruTQQV

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  • View organization page for The Tourism CoLab, graphic

    3,769 followers

    We only do this once a year, so the time to get started is now!

    View organization page for Mankind Digital, graphic

    1,007 followers

    🌍 Do you work in the tourism sector? Are you interested in learning how to develop a #RegenerativeTourism roadmap to guide the next stages of your business, organisation, or community, while staying relevant to your local region? ✨ The Tourism CoLab is hosting a 20-week deep dive course focused on regenerative development and tourism: The Regenerative Business Development Journey. 🌱 The course explores: 🔄 How we think about the role of business in society and its relationship with nature and people 🌿 Regenerative businesses that actively seek to restore and enhance the social and ecological systems they operate within 🛠️ Regenerative thinking, techniques, tools, and relationships you can use in your own journey 🗺️ How to develop a regenerative roadmap for your business, organisation, or community 📊 How to design your impact framework and measurement strategy, then evaluate your impact over time 📈 Implementation and operational considerations 📖 How to tell your story The course includes: 📚 10 x 2-hour live cohort sessions 🤝 10 reflective sessions in small P2P learning groups or with your coach 📝 Printed/digital workbook with exercises to help reflect, challenge, and crystallise your learning 💬 4 x 1-hour one-on-one sessions with your coach 🎓 Access to the CoLab Communiversity learning materials (12 months) 💻 Access to an exclusive cohort learning space for Regenerative Business Deep Dive participants 👥 Who is this course for? The Regenerative Business Journey is designed for new and existing businesses, organisations, and community leaders who are seeking to develop a roadmap to activate regenerative development. 🌐 Where will the course be hosted? Hosted 100% online, you can join this coaching journey from anywhere in the world for two hours every fortnight, along with accessing the activities and learning materials between live sessions. 💲 At an extremely affordable price point of $1490 AUD and the option to split payments over four months, this regenerative tourism learning journey is an incredible opportunity to build your knowledge while developing a customised roadmap tailored to your specific location, business, and community. 📅 Enrolments close on 22 August and the first session will commence on 29 August 2024. With limited seats remaining and enrolments closing soon, sign up as soon as possible to secure your place! 🔗 More information can be found here: https://lnkd.in/gtBM4u7x #RegenerativeTourism #Regeneration #SustainableTourism #RegenerativeTravel #ResponsibleTravel #ResponsibleTourism #Sustainability #EcoTourism #RegenerativeDevelopment #SustainableTravel #SustainableDevelopment #SustainableTourismDevelopment #SustainableTourismStrategies #SustainabilityLeadership #RegenerativeEconomy #TourismForGood #ImpactTourism #ClimateAction #TourismLeadership #RegenerativeBusiness #TravelWithPurpose #CommunityTourism #CommunityBasedTourism #CommunityLedTourism

    Regenerative Business | Tourism CoLab

    Regenerative Business | Tourism CoLab

    thetourismcolab.com.au

  • View organization page for The Tourism CoLab, graphic

    3,769 followers

    What does it take to transform your business, organisation, or community group into a resilient and regenerative enterprise that genuinely contributes to communities, places, and nature? Discover the answer with The Tourism CoLab's Regenerative Business Development Journey! This is a 20-week reflective learning and coaching journey where we will delve into: 🌿 How to transition from a traditional extractive business model to a resilient and purpose-led business that's future-fit 🌿 How to secure the social licence of your business, organisation or group by identifying and addressing what matters 🌿 Designing, implementing and measuring the genuine contribution your business or organisation can make 🌿 Connect with like-minded grassroots innovators and activators who are redesigning the future across sectors, and who are interested in flipping tourism and giving back 🌿 Learn from the Tourism CoLab's innovative and experimental approaches and global experience Whether you're in tourism, or looking to use the visitor economy as a tool to address local issues and build place-based vitality, your journey can start right here! 🗓️ Starts: August 29, 2024  🏁 Enrolments close: August 22, 2024 Join us in creating a regenerative future and be the change you want to see! Learn more and enroll at https://lnkd.in/gtBM4u7x #RegenerativeBusiness #PurposeDriven #CommunityImpact #RgenerativeEnterpreneurship #PlaceBased #NaturePositive #TourismFutures #TourismBusiness #Coaching #RegenerativRoadmap #TouirsmColab #ONline #TourismEducation #BeyondBusiness

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  • View organization page for The Tourism CoLab, graphic

    3,769 followers

    📣 We are excited to announce that The Tourism CoLab is now on Instagram! 🎉 📱 The social media bug has bitten us, and we can't wait to share our journey with you through visual storytelling. A special thanks to Sandrina Maria Thurow for her invaluable creative input in launching this new venture. Follow us to stay updated on our upcoming news, courses, projects, webinars, and much more. Join us in the visual flow and be part of our community! Let’s connect and explore the world of Regeneration and Tourism together! 🌍✨ 👉 Follow us on Instagram: @tourismcolab ➡ https://lnkd.in/gh7YqVQj

    The Tourism CoLab (@tourismcolab) • Instagram photos and videos

    The Tourism CoLab (@tourismcolab) • Instagram photos and videos

    instagram.com

  • View organization page for The Tourism CoLab, graphic

    3,769 followers

    Stop scrolling and investigate this UNDP Signals Spotlight 2024 Report!! It was developed by UNDP’s Strategy and Futures Team, drawing on signals of change from UNDP’s Future Trends and Signals System, submitted by over 350 UNDP signal scanners worldwide. Among the many, many brain popping moments was the idea that "Looking 50,000 years into the past and 50,000 into the future – assuming that the twenty-first century’s birth rate remains constant – all human lives ever lived are far outweighed by all those yet to come." According to estimates: -100 Billion Dead - 7.7 Billion Living - 6.75 Trillion Unborn/Generations to come Take a moment to think about the implications and what is being taken away from future generations... The Report has been released in the lead up to the #SummitoftheFuture in September. Progress towards the #SDGs has been limited with only 17% of the SDGs on target. The report spells out our duty to be honest, realistic but also maintain hope in an unequal, polarised and uncertain world and is organised in three parts: - Hope for an equitable future - Hope for a responsible technological progress - Hope for a resilient and connected communities #Hope has been criticised for being over-rated and unrealistic in the face of evidence. However, adopting a position of hope can also be empowering (I personally find it is the only way I can keep going because a shift towards #regenerative approaches, #mindsets and #values (or whatever you would like to call it) provides a constructive, hopeful and realistic pathway. So, if you are a systems thinker If you are overwhelmed with the complexity and direction of change in planetary health If you are frustrated at the simplicity of current tools If you are alarmed at the very visible decline in social capital If you are concerned at the short-termism and wilful blindness that characterises industry and government responses ... then counter the grief by taking a moment to open this report and read it 🙏 In our CoLab Communiversity we see many of these themes come up in conversation. There is a lot of concern voiced about coming together to work as an ecosystem, and we grapple with how to design our businesses and organisations for a different future. https://lnkd.in/g5pnKUpe Anna Pollock Michelle Holliday Sarah Lebski Cat Salt Philippa Benson Roos Gerritsma Cecilie Smith-Christensen #Hope #Futures #SignalsSpotlight2024 #SGDs #Regeneration #UNDP #Report #Systems #Resilient #ConnectedCommunities #MultiCapitals

    • Bubble Diagram identifies the 16 themes from the report and are nuanced in their potential for advancing
intergenerational equity. Each theme contains seeds of hope as well as
obstacles or difficulties in our path. This graphic illustrates the relative
effort required for each theme to drive us toward greater equity.
  • View organization page for The Tourism CoLab, graphic

    3,769 followers

    Ever heard of the term social enterprise 🤝? This term is becoming more and more prevalent in the alternative business movement. 📅 Join us today on Tuesday resp. tomorrow Wednesday for our next free and openly accessible monthly guest speaker, hailing all the way from the East Coast of the USA: Dini Hajarrahmah 🎤 She'll present her research topic: The Road To Success: Tourism Social Entrepreneurs' Quest For Regenerative Tourism 🎓 This is a research study that investigates the challenges and strategies of tourism social enterprises in adopting regenerative tourism, using social movement theory to analyze fifty-seven social entrepreneur interviews. The research identifies three stages and one overall component: Inspiration – factors driving the creation and innovation of these enterprises; Sustaining – obstacles and strategies for long-term success; Exploring and participating in regenerative tourism – obstacles and strategies for engagement; and the Systems Thinking and Feedback Loop created by regenerative tourism on tourism social enterprises. ✍ Theoretical implications include the first use of social movement theory, systems thinking, and feedback loop together as a framework to understand regenerative tourism. 🔧 Practitioner implications offer insights into selecting like-minded business partners and educating tourists on a regenerative mindset by using social movement strategies. 📶 Log in today/tomorrow at 9am AEST (Wednesday 17th July) / 1am CET / 7pm EST (Tuesday 16th July) via the following link: https://lnkd.in/giWGJNhw. Check for your time zone here https://lnkd.in/gN9_q5_s Note: The Recording will be made available in The Tourism CoLab's Communiversity. 👀 Not a member yet? Sign up today https://lnkd.in/ggruTQQV Looking forward to seeing you all.

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