This exploratory article commences by noting views from the literature that in areas like remote Australia, small to mediumsized tourism enterprises operated by Indigenous people struggle with geographical distance, lack of business capabilities and other factors. These perspectives provide basis to explore remote tourism enterprise use of relational practices that "configure" external resources to improve competitiveness. The article investigates relational practices carried out by small to mediumsized tourism enterprises operated by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to achieve stability in the challenging contexts of remote Australia. Findings identify that relational practices implemented by these enterprises provide multiple ways of creating shared value to boost competitiveness. These include: referrals, industry value chains, cooperation, marketing and meetings. Through a liberal and diversified approach to relational practices, these enterprises create value chain opportunities from within remote Australia, while they also establish and maintain connections with broader tourism systems. Implications from these findings are raised and directions for future inquiry are identified.

Word-of-mouth is an important source of information for tourists making decisions about what destinations to visit. Word-of-mouth has a strong influence on shaping the image of a destination, particularly for remote destinations which are in part characterised by limited market penetration in terms of more formal marketing communications. There has been some research situating consumer generated content in Web 2.0 applications as word-of-mouth that has the potential to influence destination images for some destinations and among some markets. Less attention has been paid to consumer generated photographs although photographs and other non-text media are becoming increasingly pervasive on Web 2.0 websites. This chapter argues that photographs make a substantial contribution to word-of-mouth exchange online, and that there is a need for tools to help destinations interpret photographic content. Mapping photographs to Echtner and Ritchie’s (1993) destination image framework is one approach that shows some promise as it allows for comparison between the images projected by marketing bodies and consumers.

In this paper we discuss some of the key learnings from the Cooperative Research Centre for Remote Economic Participation (CRC REP), Remote Economic Participation, Pathways to Employment and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Tourism Product research projects. While we do not deny the importance of global markets for remote Australians, we see value in opportunity structures that move beyond the confines of traditional economic and human capital theories. It is through acknowledging and building on local residents' social, identity, cultural and natural capital strengths that, we argue, has a greater potential for supporting increased economic engagement and sustainable participation. Framing our learnings through a theoretical lens of different forms of capital we argue a shift in discourse from one of 'disadvantage' to one of remote advantage would be more supportive of education, employment and enterprise outcomes for local Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander residents. While such a shift will not contribute significantly to the Gross National Product we argue that it would have important tangible and economic benefits for local people and the nation.

In this "hot issue" article, Jacobsen argues that even after decades of inquiry the level of Tourism Studies disconnect from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people is troubling. He maintains that (relieved of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander voices for so long) the received literature on tourism is still dominated by non-indigenous academics who continue to forge a discourse based on "Othering." The purpose of his critical review article is to substantively engage with the disconnect that seemingly plagues inquiry about tourism for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in Australia. This Jacobsen piece thereby exposes subtle, overarching misgivings observable in the literature underscored by the presupposed "Othering" of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people as "inferior people." This hot issue article therefore moves away from discourses of deficit, inertia, imposed Western-centric theorization, and superficial inquiry towards the Aboriginalization of research-intotourism as inquiry that is emancipative and situated within and emanating from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander worldviews. In providing a number of outcomes from a 6-year national research program in remote Australia, Jacobson reflects on their value as the basis for "leadership" and for "future broad directions." To Jacobsen, the Aboriginalization of tourism inquiry must be based on cultural integrity in order to drive the discourse of enabling, cultural ways of business, and appropriate leadership. This hot issue article thus draws attention to the urgent need for Tourism Studies practice to be genuinely committed to the well-being of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, cultures, country, and knowledge. [Abstract by the Reviews Editor]