Yura Tours is drawing visitors from across the world to Minjerribah (North Stradbroke Island).
Every day, Elisha Kissick shows her guests parts of Australia they’ve never seen before.
One of the best parts of her job is witnessing their emotional responses.
“Hosting all the international guests and looking at them when they see a koala in the wild for the first time… they nearly start crying,” the founder of Yura Tours says.
“To give people these experiences and share the culture and the histories, I guess every day is a great day.”
During the pandemic, Kissick — a Quandamooka woman — decided it was time for a change of pace. She switched her job in corporate tourism for a role that would let her share more stories of her grandparents and bloodline.
She chose a track she loved on North Stradbroke Island, traditionally known as Minjerribah, and started offering a walking tour to share the plant and animal life and cultural stories of the area.
“That was quite successful — and a lot of people were interested in seeing other parts of the island,” Kissick says.
She was happy to be their guide. Despite being a solo operator, she’d soon created a range of tourism experiences, including a Yallingbilla (whale) tour in winter, and four-wheel drive experiences that showed visitors lakes, beaches and cultural sites on the island, 30 kilometres south-east of Brisbane.
The passion for sharing the island with visitors has been passed down through the generations, with Kissick heavily influenced by her grandparents’ approach to sharing culture.
“Anybody that would come to the island would visit my grandparents, and as long as you brought a couple of bickies, you could always sit down and have a cup of tea with them,” she says.
“Before tourism really even had a name, they were doing it, they were guesting people. You give people a feed, you show them around, you share your stories with them.”
But growing a business as a sole trader is no easy task. Three years into operating, Kissick is the only staff member, which adds an additional degree of difficulty when you’re in the tourism industry.
“That is a challenge – having to make sure you’re alive 24/7, because you have bookings which are up to April next year,” she says.
Yura Tours is now big enough to bring more guides into the business, giving Kissick an opportunity to employ other young Quandamooka women.
“I’m trying to sort that out to have a bit of backup, but also to give some of these girls in the community [an] opportunity to learn different aspects of the business,” she says.
While she might have to be patient to find the right person, she’s now in a position “to give other young females in the community an opportunity to work on country”.
In her first year in business, Kissick had a moment of worry that she’d have to pack up and head back to her corporate role.
“That first year I thought, ‘I’m not going to make it,’” she says.
“But I stuck it out and survived and it started getting really busy.”
In the end, it was partnerships and strong relationships that nurtured the company’s growth.
This includes working with First Australians Capital, which is focused on supporting Indigenous entrepreneurs. The group’s Catalytic Impact Fund, which is backed by investors including fintech giant Block, connects founders with patient debt finance.
Yura Tours was able to draw on equipment finance to buy its first business vehicle, a four-wheel drive.
“That was a game-changer because now I’m able to do those high-end [driving] tours,” Kissick says.
Relationships have also been key to generating new growth opportunities.
“Because I have known the right people, and really kept those relationships over the years, I have had that in-kind support with marketing. I have been invited to be in the room with the right people to be able to push my business,” Kissick says.
She’s even taken her passion for First Nations-led tourism global. Earlier this year Yura Tours joined a group of Australian businesses on a Queensland Tourism-led trip to Colorado in the USA. This gave Kissick the opportunity to encourage international travel agents to add her experiences to their clients’ itineraries.
Despite a lot of interest, demand for tours right now is outstripping what Kissick can provide as a solo entrepreneur.
“I am keeping them at bay at the moment, because it is only me,” she says.
“When I’m ready, I will open it up a little bit more and let them add me to a few more itineraries.”
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