From wombat encounters and cycling to sensory experiences - tour guiding enthusiast and National President Leanne Saward: Visitor Economy Profile

Meet Leanne Saward - an independent?tour guide and president of TGA - Tour Guides Australia - the peak industry association representing tour guides across Australia.

Where are you from??I grew up on a dairy,?beef?and pig farm at?Gormandale, near?Traralgon?in Gippsland. I came to Melbourne to study at university and have lived here ever since.

How long have you worked in the visitor economy??I love cycling long distances and decided to earn some money with my bike seven years ago. My first experiences in tour guiding were leading bike tours in and around Melbourne.

What do?you?enjoy most about working in the?visitor economy??No day and no tour?are?ever the same. From meeting?people of all walks of life from all around the world, to an unexpected encounter with a wombat, to planning an unusual guest experience, to peeling back the layers of the built environment to discover what was there first, keeps?my work fresh and invigorating.

What are you looking forward to and why??There is such an opportunity right now for new people to enter the tour guiding workforce. Many left the industry?during?COVID?and have not returned. We need more youth, more people who speak multiple languages, retirees who aren’t quite ready to live the quiet life and those looking for a fantastic new people-focused career to take up the challenge of getting paid to travel! (Learn more about how to become a tour guide on the TGA website .)

THRIVE?2030 has three themes – collaborate,?modernise and diversify – what you/TGA are doing in these three areas to improve our visitor economy growth, quality and sustainability???

Collaborate:?Involvement in the Management Committee of Tour Guides Australia brings opportunities to collaborate with talented and passionate people who also want our tour industry to rebound and grow more resilient.?

Modernise?and diversify:?One of the ways we are?modernising?and diversifying?is to curate training courses that are specifically?customised?to the participants’?needs?and the type of work they do, as well as?emphasising?practical skills and including industry presenters at every step, so the course is as close to the real world of tour guiding as it can be. (Courses coming up in Cairns and Darwin!)

What’s your best tip?advice, or lesson learned for the visitor economy right now??Always smile, even when you don’t feel like it. Australians are known for being down to earth and friendly. A genuine, warm smile goes a long way to keeping brand Australia alive!

What essential goes in your suitcase when travelling for business beyond your phone charger??A?hard copy book, a biography or Australian-themed,?and not available in e-format,?to catch up on some tour research.

Tell us something you do at work which warms your heart??My other voluntary work involves physically taking a tour into community groups at Vision Australia, or taking guests who have impaired vision to a tour experience outdoors where they can engage in meaningful tactile and sensory experiences. I made a clay?scale?model of the Great Ocean Road and the guests really appreciated that level of accessibility and engagement they could have with that ‘road trip’.

What is your dream/recommended location (where, what specifically and why) in Australia for:

Hosting a team building event??A long multi-day hike because there is lots of time to really get to know each other and spend quality time with different team members. It’s also more comfortable to walk alongside a colleague and talk, rather than across a desk.

Holiday with family??I want to return to Port Arthur in Tasmania to discover more about my convict ancestor.

Sporting or cultural festival??I always get involved in Open House Melbourne and love the concentrated focus on hosting visitors at 1-2 sites over the weekend, and visiting places you can’t normally access.

Experiencing nature and First Nations’ culture??Bunjilaka Aboriginal Cultural Centre now occupies a significant amount of the space at Melbourne Museum and is an excellent space to introduce visitors to, and to engage them with,?Indigenous history and culture. The possum skin?cloaks?and eel traps are incredible examples of their local sustainable cultural practices.

Other??After hiking the amazing Great Ocean Walk twice,?I?now want to complete?the Great?South West?Walk along Victoria’s south west coast. A goal like that keeps me motivated to maintain and improve?my?fitness.

Connect with Leanne Saward ?on LinkedIn, and please read and share our previous Visitor Economy profiles of Rugby great and THRIVE 2030 Implementation Advisory Group member Tim Horan AM , EcoTourism Australia's CEO?Elissa Keenan , NT Visitor Economy Executive?Valerie Smith , Founder and Project Lead at the Travel Better Project?Emma Pethybridge , SE Asian focussed Inbound Tourism Operator?Doddy Purwoko, ?Stone Social Enterprise’s?Vanessa Brettell , Vaycayit's?Hailey Brown and Lisa McEwan , Hotel Etico's Co-founder and CEO?Andrea Comastri , Australian Amusement, Leisure and Recreation Assoc GM?Kristy Ahrens ,??Queensland Airports Limited CEO?Amelia Evans , Executive Director of the Zoo and Aquarium Association Australasia?Nicola Craddock , Outdoors NSW & ACT CEO?Lori Modde , Kangaroo Island Ocean Safari Owner?Tony Coppins , Executive Chair, Australian Chamber – Tourism?John Hart , Indigenous program manager?Sharon Ninyette , TAFE business development manager?Paula Meyer , tourism survey manager?Bode Ten Buuren, ?regional tourism leader?Coralie Bell , accessible tourism operator and advocate?James "Buck" McFarlane , international education expert?Karyn Kent ?and Aboriginal tourist operator?Juan Walker .??

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