Doing good business : success factors for an Indigenous Australian tourism enterprise

The Dreamtime Cultural Centre in Central Queensland began operation in Australia’s Bicentennial year, 1988. Over the 22 years of its operation, the enterprise has grown to provide a range of services and facilities including cultural tours, conference facilities, a motel and restaurants. The study on which this paper is based sought to develop a grounded theory model accounting for the success of the Dreamtime Cultural Centre. The model demonstrates a complex and highly interdependent process. As an Indigenous tourism enterprise, the Centre is structured to reflect and reinforce the integration of Australian Indigenous social structures and processes that accommodate the dynamics and relationships arising from the cultural mores, traditions and expectations of a complex community. This paper provides an overview of the key findings from over four years of field work within the Centre.