AUSTRALIANTRAVELLER.COM 35
SHORTCUTS | Travel trend
“Travellers are increasingly seeking experiences that transcend
the superficial: experiences that offer meaning, surprise and that
add great depth to the memory bank.”
I RECENTLY SUBMITTED myself to a
hallucinatory light installation by acclaimed
American artist James Turrell; his Unseen
Seen orb is the centrepiece of Mona’s Faro
restaurant. Elsewhere onsite at the Hobart
gallery, Japanese artist Ryoji Ikeda’s beacon
spectra shoots 15 kilometres into the sky to a
mesmerised crowd and down by the city’s
waterfront, thousands of festivalgoers flock
to the ambient red glow of Dark Mofo’s Winter
Feast and its flickering fires. What gives?
It must be a primordial thing, being drawn
to the light. Is that why we’re flitting across
the country like moths to a flame to soak in
the country’s most illuminating events? Why
Bruce Munro’s Field of Light at Uluru has
attracted over 250,000 people since it was
installed in 2016 and why last year 2.2 million
of us day tripped to Sydney to experience its
light, ideas and music festival Vivid? Perhaps
it’s also got something to do with the fact
that lumens are such a perfect vehicle for art,
allowing the desert of the Red Centre or the
sails of the Opera House to be transformed
into a blank canvas with infinite potential.
Light-based festivals, installations and
events are part of an ever-increasing global
trend of cultural tourism: according to a
2018 report by the Australia Council for the
Arts, more international tourists engage with
the arts than visit wineries or casinos, or
attend sports events. And Australian tourism
bodies are increasingly putting their faith in
arts and culture’s ability to drive visitation.
Following his recent Field of Light offshoot
in Albany, Bruce Munro is gearing up to
install a major new light artwork in Darwin.
Featuring eight illuminated sculptures placed
throughout the city’s CBD, Tropical Light will
run from November to April as part of the
Northern Territory government’s $103 million
Turbocharging Tourism stimulus package: an
investment in festivals and events that support
improved liveability, tourism and local jobs.
Tim Watsford, general manager of NT Major
Events Company, says that it’s hoped Tropical
Light will attract up to 50,000 people to the
Top End during its shoulder season.
So why are the arts motivating more and
more of us to travel? Are we all becoming
cultural connoisseurs or have we simply ‘been
there, done that’ and are on the hunt for new
travel experiences beyond the ordinary?
“Travellers are increasingly seeking
experiences that transcend the superficial:experiences that offer meaning, surprise and
that add great depth to the memory bank,”
says Grant Hunt, CEO of Voyages
Indigenous Tourism Australia, which
manages Ayers Rock Resort and brought
Field of Light to life at the base of Uluru.
But it’s also about finding different ways to
get under the skin of a place. Field of Light
and the like allow people to “experience the
destination in a way that is unexpected,”
Hunt says. “It opens up all the senses and
they are captured by the romance and beauty
but perhaps not in an everyday way.”
Vivid Sydney is staged by Destination
NSW on behalf of the NSW Government
and its tourism minister Stuart Ayres echoes
Hunt’s sentiment. “Events like Vivid Sydney
allow visitors to really immerse themselves in
the culture of a city and can act as a guide to
explore a new destination,” he says.
And, as is the case with much great art,
experiences like these can also be a conduit
for understanding and connection.Based in Alice Springs, or Mparntwe,
Parrtjima is a First Nations festival of light
that uses the newest technology to showcase
the oldest continuous cultures on Earth.
Recent government investment has elevated
it to a major scale and its expedited growth in
the last couple of years proves the dividends
are already showing. Parrtjima’s point of
difference, says Watsford, is the way it’s able
to share and amplify the stories and art of the
Arrernte people with authenticity. In that
time, Indigenous creative director Rhoda
Roberts has worked closely with an
Indigenous reference group to weave
narratives through the festival and ensure
that every light installation and piece ofprogramming that accompanies it has links to
the traditional land and the 60,000-year-old
culture that goes with it, says Watsford. “So
what you see is true and it’s unique. If people
are wanting to experience Indigenous
culture, you get it in spades at Parrtjima.”
“We keep innovating and adding new ways
to experience what is one of the world’s oldest
landmarks and cultures,” says Hunt of Ayers
Rock Resort’s diverse Uluru offering, which
also includes dune-top dining experience Tali
Wiru and opera. “It’s important to keep a place
fresh and contemporary and we continuously
challenge ourselves to evolve ideas.”
And is this trend of unique creative events
that draw the crowds set to continue?
“We are only limited by our imagination,”
says Hunt. “I think you will continue to see
an evolution of ideas that complement and
underpin various destinations. The more
success that we have, and otherslike us have,
the more you will see cultureandevents as
part of the marketing mix.”