It’s no secret that COVID-19 has been tough on business but tourism has been hit harder than most. It’s a fact that tourism and hospitality specialist Gabby Daniels had in mind when starting her new podcast Let’s Talk Tourism. The podcast, which with talks with industry experts, is the first of its kind in Queensland, and Australia.

Let’s Talk Tourism sees Griffith alumnus Gabby chatting to high-level executives across Queensland, talking about what they’re currently doing and how they’re coping through this tourism recovery period due to the pandemic. Guests include the Chair of Destination Gold Coast Paul Donovan, and the Deputy Director of the Griffith Institute for Tourism Dr Sarah Gardiner.

“We’ve got a suite of great caliber speakers talking about some real actionable takeaways that businesses can actually implement to help them get back on their feet,” Gabby explains. “I noticed that there were a lot of webinars and a lot of information out there but we’re focused on actually filtering through that with details that some small, medium and large operators can actually implement straightaway in their businesses.”

Gabby has a wealth of knowledge and experience she brings to the series. After studying tourism and hotel management at Griffith Business School, Gabby worked at the Starwood Hotel – Sheraton Mirage for seven years, leaving as Director of Revenue, as well as positions within Tabcorp (now The Star Entertainment Group), and Mantra Group. She also had the honour of working as the Head of Accommodation for the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games.

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit the hospitality industry hard, Gabby took the opportunity to pivot into her own business. She’d already run and sold a physio business with her husband, so this was the perfect opportunity to combine her entrepreneurial knowledge with her passion for tourism. “This was a real opportunity for me to go out by myself. In March I set up my own business, Gabrielle Daniels Hospitality and Business Solutions.

“As a small boutique advisory firm, essentially what I do is facilitate and help companies identify gaps in their business, look at improving their revenue, their profitability, looking at cost reductions, and really working with the team hands on to help them increase their overall revenue result and profitability of their business.”

She hopes that she will be able to provide listeners of the podcast with some of the insight that has led to her success over the years, as well as relevant and timely information about challenges facing the industry.

“The aim of the podcast is to really foster the collaboration of the industry. It’s a really critical time to share some insight and now more than ever start to work closer together. Now is the perfect time for these insights and for important information to be shared to the sector so that it can continue to be such an important part of the Australian economy.”

And the podcast medium, she says, is the perfect way to get that information to the right people. “The people who are the decision makers often don’t have time to sit down and watch webinars and other resources with this sort of information in it… Let’s Talk Tourism will be bite-sized chunks of information and interviews that those people can take away and say ‘OK how can we implement this?’”

Gabby says that her entrepreneurial instincts were definitely honed during her time with the Business School. “Griffith taught me how to be a strategic thinker, how to be more innovative. Griffith has given that great foundation. Being an entrepreneur takes a certain mindset and the University gave me that drive and passion to want to go and do things, to be a risk taker.”

Let’s Talk Tourism is a drive-to-work series, with episodes dropping on a Friday morning on Spotify and iTunes. https://letstalktourism.today/

🔊 Spotify:https://open.spotify.com/show/084ytmhqgGEGDUHzdaez11?si=GOK-jILmR_uj8SMssDsYOQ

🔊Apple Podcast:https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/lets-talk-tourism/id1533623947