ABSTRACT
Indigenous tourism researchers have not fully embraced social media as fieldwork sites in their own right. This paper explores, from a social media perspective, the (online) engagement of Indigenous tour operators with tourists, the role of differences in tourist-Indigenous worldviews in the tour experience, and the sustainability implications. Data consisted of 588 tourist reviews and 137 operator responses, pertaining to four Indigenous tour experiences offered in Australia. Findings suggest that dissatisfied tourists expect tours to be run on Western management models, and in response, Indigenous tour operators have the opportunity to act as cultural negotiators online, explaining their own worldviews and cultural approaches. Three components of this cultural negotiation emerged: identifying and embracing worldview differences; delineating the larger cultural context of tours; and, rebuttal of misrepresentations in online tourist reviews. In addition, amongst themselves, tourists educate each other on cultural etiquette and interpretation. From a sustainability perspective it was found that Indigenous tour operator voices are minimally represented in tourism social media – a missed opportunity to correct cultural misconceptions and clarify differences, to “speak” for themselves, creating a stronger, more assertive online voice. Policy interventions to increase Indigenous operators’ participation in social media, including training and assistance, could help.
