Walking on Country with Bana Yarralji Bubu: A Model for Aboriginal Social Enterprise Tourism

The purpose of this research is to describe a model for Aboriginal social enterprise tourism developed by an Aboriginal family. This research examines the relationship between the operation of the business and the vision guiding the business owners through a qualitative case study of Bana Yarralji Bubu, a tourism social enterprise in northern Queensland, Australia. The business owners have used a holistic sustainability approach to pursue their cultural, environmental, wellbeing and economic goals. This research finds however that efforts spent on achieving multi-dimensional benefits have occurred at the expense of business development and profitability. The research also demonstrates that business development has been impacted both by negative social capital existing in the local community as well as external factors such as land use planning and land administration systems, the political environment and the tourism market. A new model is therefore proposed that situates the tourism social enterprise relative to influences that clan relationships have upon the operation of the business and illustrates how these relationships combined with the external forces create additional inhibiting and enabling conditions that affect the realization of business goals and overall sustainability. This research uses the term ‘Aboriginal’ social enterprise tourism as it refers to mainland Australian Aboriginal tourism opportunities, recognising that this term is most appropriately used to refer to the specific identity of mainland Aboriginal peoples within Australia on a national level. The term ‘indigenous’ is used in the international context.