Tourism Together 2025: Riding the Waves

Abbey loves all things sport, adventure and travel and is wild about the Outback.

Abbey’s passions take her all over the country. She has been seen pounding the pavement as a Real Estate Agent, kicking goals on and off the footy field (playing and commentating for Channel 7 and Triple M), hosting her own adventure TV and content series, starring in the two seasons of Australian Survivor on Channel 10 and speaking at events. Her commitment to outstanding professionalism, down to earth communication, hard work and a can do attitude have established her reputation as a leader, mentor, and recognised public figure.

Originally from South Australia, but having lived all over the country over the last 10 years – the multi-talented sports star has always overachieved from a young age. She represented Australia, South Australia and the Northern Territory in Netball, but really found her niche when she began playing football competitively in the NTFL.

Abbey was first launched into the media spotlight after becoming the first Female Australian Rules Footballer to kick 100+ goals in an established women’s league season.
This is an achievement that Abbey is very proud of, however she is prouder of the attention and interest that this achievement bought to women’s football around the country at a time of need.

Since then, she has accepted invitations to play in a number of charity football matches, the EJ Whitten Legends Game & the Slowdown raising much needed funds for prostate cancer research and children’s oncology treatment. It was her work here, that Abbey really cemented herself as a role model and respected figure nationwide.

Damien is the owner of Great Ocean Road Resort and co-owner of Sunnymead Hotel and Anglesea Riverside Motel, dedicated to increasing domestic and international visitation to the Great Ocean Road Region.

Damien is the current Chairperson and Board member of Business Events Victoria, representing the Great Ocean Road Region and a committee member on the Australian Tourism and Export Council Victorian branch committee.

Damien has over 12 years experience in the tourism industry and has in-depth knowledge across accommodation, hospitality, spa and wellness, international markets and business events.

Hari Hara Priya Kannan is Chief Data Scientist at The Demographics Group in Melbourne, renowned for its data-driven journalism, corporate speaking, and business advisory services.

She writes a monthly column for The Australian newspaper, analysing business demographics and their impact on businesses and government policies.

Hari holds degrees in software engineering and data science from universities in Bangalore and Melbourne.

Hari has spoken to audiences across Australia on diverse topics including housing and home ownership, business formation, international education, Australian ethnicity, ageing and the need for strategic planning.

Specialising in both Australian and global demographic data, Hari highlights Australia’s demographic trends, offering insights into consumer behaviour, workforce dynamics, and social trends, and showcasing their significance for corporate, government and industry audiences alike.

At age 16, Jessica Watson became the youngest person to sail solo non-stop and unassisted around the world.

Defying criticism from those who said her task was destined to fail, after 210 days at sea navigating some of the world’s most challenging stretches of oceans and surviving seven knockdowns, Jessica sailed back into Sydney Harbour on 15 May, 2010.

As she docked at the Sydney Opera House, the country wept with pride. She walked up the pink welcome carpet, met the Prime Minister on stage and then delivered what many believe is one of the most simple, but brilliant, inspirational speeches of all time where she replied to the Prime Minister’s summary of her as our newest Australian hero:

“I would like to disagree with our Prime Minister. I do not consider myself a hero. I am just an ordinary person, who had a dream and worked hard at it. By sailing solo, non-stop and unassisted around the world, I have proved that anything really is possible”.

She had captured the hearts of not only Australians, but millions of supporters around the globe as they cheered on the 16 year old Aussie, who had overcome the adversity and odds to achieve what many thought impossible.

Joining Tourism Australia in 2017, Kristy acts as the primary link between tourism operators and Tourism Australia. With an extensive background in the youth travel sector, Kristy has previously held roles both domestically and internationally including the management of Hostelworld Group brands for the Oceania region.

Born in Birmingham, UK, Martin has a BA and MA in English literature from Cambridge University and an MA in Communications from RMIT University, Melbourne. He left England in 1987 and lived, worked and travelled around the world before migrating to Australia in 1997. He worked for Lonely Planet from 1999 to 2020 in numerous roles, including seven years as Editorial Manager.

A bicycle accident on his 20km commute to work in 2010 left him a quadriplegic. He was Lonely Planet’s Accessible Travel Manager & Editorial Adviser from 2013 to 2020, in which role he published a number of accessible travel titles, including the world’s largest collection of Accessible Travel Online Resources, which was cited as best practice by the UNWTO, and an accessible guide to Rio de Janeiro that was supplied to all athletes participating in the 2016 Paralympics. He also commissioned and co-wrote Accessible Melbourne, Accessible Brighton, Accessible Bristol, Accessible Edinburgh and Accessible Glasgow.[1]

Since 2014 he has become a regular speaker at travel conferences held by such global travel NGOs as UNWTO, WTTC, IATA and PATA. In 2021, he authored Tourism Access and Inclusion: Best Practice Guidelines for Tourism MSMEs for APEC, complemented by a series of three online workshops featuring many of the world’s accessible travel luminaries. In 2022, he authored the Accessible and Inclusive Host Handbook for the Australian Tourism Export Council, complemented by a series of training modules that he created and delivered. From June 2023, he has been delivering accessible and inclusive travel training for the Global Sustainable Tourism Council, most recently in Stockholm and Singapore.

For the last six years he has served as chair of the board of IDEAS, a NSW-based nonprofit providing information to and advocacy services for the disability communities throughout Australia. He was appointed to the Victorian Disability Advisory Council in October 2019, and reappointed in 2022 to advise the Victorian government on matters related to disability.

[1] All Lonely Planet accessible titles are free to download.

Stef is the Director of Sales and Customer Success for ANZ at TRIBE. She is a customer obsessed leader with extensive experience working across various digital channels and verticals in performance, partnership, and content and creator industries in EMEA and APAC.