Collaborations with impact: women-led tourism driving cultural and commercial power
Across Australia, women-led Indigenous tourism enterprises are forming powerful alliances with artists, designers, wellness brands.
In Western Australia, guide Rosanna Angus takes guests to Sunday Island on her Oolin Sunday Island Cultural Tours in the Dampier Peninsula © Tourism Australia
Tourism has always been a space of cultural exchange. But in the hands of Aboriginal women, it’s increasingly becoming a springboard for creative collaborations that deepen impact, diversify income and lift communities. Across Australia, women-led Indigenous tourism enterprises are forming powerful alliances with artists, designers, wellness brands and beauty makers – turning tours into platforms, and stories into shared economies.
Yura Tours guide Elisha Kissick collaborates with local artists on her adventures around North Stradbroke Island / Minjerribah in Queensland © Tourism Australia
On North Stradbroke Island / Minjerribah, Elisha Kissick of Yura Tours isn’t just walking Country – she’s weaving story into fashion and art. A longtime friend of celebrated Quandamooka artist and designer Delvene Cockatoo-Collins, Elisha offers visitors the opportunity to not only learn cultural knowledge on foot, but take it home. Delvene’s designs – including hand-printed fabrics, jewellery and homewares – are made locally and carry the visual motifs of island Country. Elisha stops by her gallery on Minjerribah, and often references how tourism, art and economy move together here.
In Western Australia, guide Rosanna Angus of Oolin Sunday Island Cultural Tours takes guests to explore waters around the Dampier Peninsula © Tourism Australia
In the Kimberley, Rosanna Angus of Oolin Sunday Island Cultural Tours is going beyond saltwater storytelling. She’s launched her own skincare brand, LANJE, drawing on seaweed extracts, native botanicals, pearl extract and cultural knowledge of coastal healing. Created in collaboration with marine biotechnologists and local pearl farm producers, the range is as much about cultural enterprise as it is about wellness. LANJE products extend the reach of Rosanna’s work into homes, spas and boutiques - while keeping narrative ownership with her community.
Head guide of Kingfisher Tours Garingbaar, Bec Sampi, admiring landscapes in Western Australia © Tourism Australia
In the East Kimberley, Wola/Gija woman Bec Sampi – head guide of Kingfisher Tours – is leading an inspiring cultural enterprise: Garingbaar Native Bush Botanicals, an Indigenous owned skincare range built in community. Her artisan soaps are handmade in Kununurra, using minimal, skin nourishing ingredients like coconut oil and goolum (bush lavender) collected by hand on Country. Collaborating with regional women, her range illustrates how tourism experiences and local enterprise can intertwine: guests learn about bush medicine on tour, then walk away with a product that carries both story and skin care.
What makes these partnerships different is that they’re built on trust, community and shared vision, not just market logic. They’re designed to last. Profits flow locally. Knowledge is protected. And every product – whether a silk scarf or a skincare balm – carries cultural and personal lineage. For the women involved, it’s also about shaping the future on their own terms: moving beyond one business model, and proving that cultural leadership can travel through multiple sectors.
These collaborations also serve as a bridge for travellers. A tour may end, but the connection doesn’t. Guests who take home a wearable piece of art or a jar of native-infused body balm, continue the story. In a time where cultural appropriation and extractive tourism models are still all too common, these collaborations represent a new kind of economy: reciprocal, women-led, rooted in Country and expanding outwards with care.
