Tourism starts at home, says Nivard Nelson

Tourism, the art of travel – allowing people to undertake activities in places outside of their normal location whether it be for leisure, business or other purposes. This idea of tourism in the context of food can be then further defined into hospitality tourism, culinary tourism, agri-tourism, food tourism and foodie travel.

These categories of tourism are closely tied to the culture of the location. Experiences are not limited to simply eating out but are linked to the food markets, cooking classes, farm tours, vineyard visits and experiencing all that a region has to offer via its culinary exploits. This is considered one of the best ways to get to know the story of the place we are visiting.

Operators, suppliers and those people who are providing this experience play an important role by ensuring people can connect products with the traditions of the destination they are visiting.

By this I mean that we need to find our own voice. We need to strive for our own identity. Yes we can take inspiration from both national and international influences but we, the Darling Downs region must fight for our traditions – our USP, or unique selling position.

We need to promote what makes this region unique. We are blessed with awarding-winning wineries, fertile farmland that produces beef, lamb, pork and produce that rivals anything the rest of the country has to offer. We are blessed that we have access via a world class airport, allowing tourists to spend more time experiencing than travelling.

But tourism starts at home. I challenge everyone to look at our region and let’s start experiencing those traditions that are unique to us. Let us promote the Darling Downs because we all benefit from strong tourism.