The Tasmanian Tourism Conference event sees industry stakeholders and operators come together. 

Tourism Industry Council Tasmania executive officer Luke Martin said tourism is a very individualised industry. 

“People toil away in their own businesses and then come to something like this and realise they’re part of something bigger,” he said. 

Day one involved a number of workshops, with Thursday being about Tasmania’s future of tourism. 

“The theme ‘Reimagine’ is a bit of an opportunity to take advantage of the growth stop and the exciting times that we’ve had as an industry in the last few years,” Mr Martin said.  “[It] gives a bit of a chance to reset and look at what we’re building and where we want to be in 10-20 years time.”  

On Thursday, keynote speaker, Andrew Sheivachman a global tourism researcher from New York will present.

The conference also saw about 160 Vocational Education Students from around the state take part in the day at revamped activity day specialised for them. They heard from speakers such as Rob Pennicott and MONA’s chief executive, Michael Wilsdon. 

“I think for young people who want to be inspired by the industry, that this is a little bit dry, so we’ve tried to turn that on its head,” Mr Martin said. 

He said if the state is to meet its target of 1.5 million visitors annually by 2020, it will need an extra 4000 industry workers. 

“That group of young people are the sort of people who are going to be working in the hotels, and being tour guides in the next couple of years.”  

Rick Marton, a hobby Airbnb host, spoke about how to work with the changing hospitality industry.

“I know that there is some apprehension from the traditional tourism industry toward Airbnb but it has to be understood that you can’t adjust the wind, but you can adjust the sails,” he said.

“There is a global tiding turning. Ten per cent of visitors to Tasmania last year stayed at Airbnbs. It’s really important that we embrace it, rather than pretend it doesn’t exist."

Mr Marton’s presentation aimed to teach the industry what makes Airbnb’s so successful and understand why tourists like that offering.