Building a high performing, culturally connected and happy workforce is an art. Learn how Sparrowly Group’s Giovanna Lever approaches workforce plan and what makes up the holy trinity.

Place branding is more than a logo—it’s the DNA of a place. Sparrowly Group’s Jackie Hicks explores how place branding and placemaking serve as critical economic and social drivers that shape a community’s identity. Drawing on insights from the City Nation Place Australasia forum, we highlight the importance of community engagement, strategic storytelling and collaborative brand development. Whether for a town, city or region, embracing place branding as a strategic priority ensures a stronger, more connected future.

There is a constant pull and push in many cultural institutions between curating a space that is thought provoking, innovative and unique while also managing the need to be sustainable or, in some cases, generate an income just to keep the doors open. tourism can play a role in helping to fill this void.  

According to Cultural Attractions of Australia, cultural tourism is one of Australia’s fastest growing tourism segments with the sector growing 23% over the past five years, compared to total tourism growth of 19%.

So where should you start? Sparrowly Group’s Justine Sinclair provides the key steps to diversifying without losing your cultural DNA.

At Sparrowly Group creating strong and connected industries and people is part of who we are. We believe that sharing collective knowledge is key to helping everyone and every place thrive. Over the past month or so the team has been out and about gathering and sharing knowledge across a number of industries including the Visitor Economy, Economic and Workforce development.  

Beyond sharing our knowledge, we also value the opportunity to learn from our peers. Here are our key takeaways.

You probably know or have lived this scenario - you need to develop a Destination Management Plan or a Visitor Strategy and you need data to understand what's been happening or to know where your destination has come from. If you work in destination management, data is the one area that we all know we need to do better and be better at collecting, tracking, analysing it and reporting on it. When we don’t measure, reflect and act, it’s difficult to tell a comprehensive story to inform stakeholders and build true advocacy and partnerships with them.

The nexus of workforce development, the visitor economy, economic development, and community development is a powerful one. They aren’t isolated efforts but interconnected pillars that support thriving communities and robust economies. And, if we really want to support thriving communities and economies, we need to stop working in silos. But why does Australia and the organisations and budgets that support these sectors still work in silos? Why aren’t we working all hands together?

At Sparrowly Group, sharing our knowledge and giving back to the industries we work in is core to our values. This week, four of our team members ventured out to present workshops and panels across New South Wales, Queensland, and South Australia. We spoke on a variety of topics including driving customer loyalty, sustainable gastronomy, building local and industry advocacy, and the adoption of data to drive business success.

The arts, culture and creative industries sector in NSW has the largest creative workforce in Australia. The creative industries are an important part of the economy, accounting for a fifth of services exports and 10% of the state’s workforce and with great potential to grow. Australia is facing a big issue with our creative trade – for every dollar we make by selling creative stuff, we end up spending eight dollars on importing similar things. This deficit shows the potential growth that the arts, culture, and creative industries could have to bring in a lot more money and boost our economy as well as the profile of the sector. To support this growth opportunity, the 'Creative Communities Policy was introduced by the NSW Government late last year to maximise the opportunity this sector presents and enhance the cultural and creative sectors. Sparrowly Group’s Justine Sinclair provides a practical framework for realising the opportunities of this policy.

The team at Sparrowly Group has witnessed travel trends come and go over the years some of which become mainstays. As we move into a new year, there are three key areas we recommend incorporating into your destination and business planning.  

While these travel behaviours are not the first to evolve and won’t be the last. What’s important is to be forward thinking, know your customer, understand their needs and listen to their feedback.

By making this an always on mindset in your destination development and experience design, you won’t need to wait to learn what the trends are…you will set the trend.

The ethical consumer demonstrates a shift in priorities in favour of purchasing from organisations that prioritise transparency and sustainability. Learning how to service this consumer will have lasting benefits for your business and the community in which you operate.

In October, Sparrowly Group’s Giovanna Lever represented Australia at the United Nations World Tourism Organisation Gastronomy Conference. Here are her learnings and resources for colleagues in the Australian tourism, food production and hospitality industries.

Sensory Experience is the connection of physical senses including sight, touch, taste, sound and smell to an experience. In this article, Sparrowly Group’s Morgan Thorn explores how your every day activities or surroundings can be developed into a memorable sensory experience.

“Going out at night”…this phrase can conjure up different images and perceptions. Typically these words more times than not are correlated with images usually involving dining, drinking and perhaps performances. The phrase “Going out at night” however, when linked to the night time economy extends way beyond just the ‘having fun’ sector. Sparrowly Group’s Justine Sinclair explains how to support vibrant communities by reimagining the night time economy.

According to the 2022 National Wine Conference, no and low alcohol wines are here to stay - Giovanna Lever of Sparrowly Group shares her three asks to the industry in support of the development of this high yielding category.

Sparrowly Group’s Jackie Hicks returned to international travel and shares some of her insights from travelling amongst this new normal and living with COVID-19.

How many people would compare the toilets that we experience in public spaces to the toilet we experience in our own homes? As Place Makers and destination creators, when extending our hospitality, we should definitely be considering the impression that our public toilets are communicating to our residents and visitors.Toilets are a big deal. More than ever before.

Jackie Hicks explores dark tourism. Dark tourism isn’t a new trend, but it can be misunderstood. Following the release of HBO’s new show Chernobyl, dark tourism is at the forefront of everyones minds. Learn more about this tourism trend.

After conducting a comprehensive research program into Accessible Tourism, both documented and anecdotal experience based, Sparrowly Group has identified that it is time for a change and that the Australian Tourism industry needs to act now.

Agritourism is any activity where agriculture and tourism intersect and can be a lifesaver especially in light of recent devastation across the country.