Hannah Suarez

Niche travel is not a new concept, in fact, it has been recognised in the mainstream travel industry with initiatives such as Virgin Blue Galactic which is the space travel arm of the Virgin Airways.  Niche travel can also seen as a concept that is appealing to investors with Aabar Investments placing $280 million for a stake in the Virgin Blue Galactic company .  Other examples include tours focusing on the cultural arts communities and spots of foreign cities, book tours, and even historical tours of cultural and creative arts spots.

It is not just the appeal of backpackers that are encouraging travellers to go beyond Contiki Tours and generic tourist hotel stays  - the niche travelling industry caters for a wide variety of reasons from business meeting planners (http://meetinguniverse.com/) to art history travels.  While there are similar concepts already in place (such as book tours, art history tours etc) this is the first time that a niche travel service is:

• Focused, on a microlevel, on one particular city
• Has the established purpose (professional development) that is fitting for the service
• ‘Promote with a purpose’ ethos that is suitable for such a niche service

This opportunity was identified when I started attending programs in other citires and I wanted to make sure that my stay was meaningful and productive.   By researching and finding these events in preparation of the trip, I was also able to seek other people who are going to these events.

“CI Cities, Go To Events” (working title)

“CI Cities, Go To Events” service idea is for a niche travel agency that links up the events database to creative industries individuals, around Australia and the world, wishing to travel in a particular Australia city or cities.  “CI Cities, Go To Events” is a play on “See cities, go to events” which is what the service will encourage individuals to do.  This also points to the target of urban dwellers of the creative city, rather than a wider region, for the sake of focus.

Taken from the 2005, Queensland Creative Industries Strategy, creativity is seen as big business.  Queensland Government estimates that their Creative Industries are worth $3.4 billion annually and generate approximately $1.1 billion in annual export sales (source). This sentiment is not a short-term strategy but rather the beginning of a new era of economy – the ‘knowledge economy’, the ‘information economy’, the working creative class or the ‘creative independents’.

Before calculating the size of the market for “CI Cities, Go To Events”, the creative industries market will need to be calculated.  It is important that this is separated from the entertainment industry because that will grossly make market value inaccurate.  In Queensland alone, the direct employment in the creative industries sector is 28,000 out of 190,000 in Australia*.  There is an annual generation of approximately $11 billion to the national gross domestic product.  65,000 jobs in Queensland alone can be contributed by creative workers from other industries and how the flow impacts on to this sector (QCIS 2005).

Some questions that need to be asked:

1. Are you a creative industries professional (emerging/established)?
2. Is the awareness of the creative industries and its economic contribution recognised enough? Why/why not?
3. How often to do you go to other cities for your professional development? If you wish to travel more, is it due to a lack of services that can provide you with the right information?
4. Have you participated in other travel or general grant scheme that allows you to travel for your professional development?
5. Should there be more collaboration between cities? Why/why not?
6. How can the creative industries profile be raised?
7. How can export performance and opportunities be enhanced?

*I am aware that these numbers have definitely changed since the document was written in 05.  I have been making constant references to this document but I really think that there should be a more current one being written.  There is also the Creative Industries Benchmarker project which involves DIA (Design Institute of Australia), AGDA (Australian Graphic Design Association) and research based CCi.

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