For us, travel is about connection, curiosity, and a gentle calling to make the world a better place. It's connection with a sense of belonging - with each other and the planet. Wayfairer is a regenerative and cooperative tourism booking platform. A platform owned by the community, for the community, to facilitate deeper and richer experiences for hosts and guests all over Australia. We are redesigning the tourism model so that it works for the benefit of all stakeholders.
When you book your accommodation on Wayfairer, 100% of your booking fee is reinvested back into the local region - to regenerate the environment, foster localisation, and promote sustainable and smart community development. Collectively we can leverage Australia’s spectacular tourism assets to deliver tangible social and environmental impact. We think that’s wayfairer!
Want to know more about becoming a member? Click here.
1) Why is Gippsland a great place to do business?
Gippsland is an extraordinarily diverse and rich place to live, visit and do business. It’s rich and diverse from a natural landscape, arts and culture, food and community, events and experiences perspective. There is so much to do and see!
We love that Gippsland, through its Smart Specialisation Strategy, is committed to supporting a place based approach, innovation, social enterprises and sustainable regional development. We think Gippsland is in many ways leading regional Australia in its co-design of a shared vision for the region’s future prosperity, environmental sustainability and social wellbeing.
2 )Why do you support Gippslandia?
The values of Gippslandia deeply resonate with our approach and values at Wayfairer. We love the strong positive voice, its ethos and the stunning way the Gippslandia team delivers content to its readership. We think there’s a powerful place for community media like Gippslandia to play in amplifying key regional messages and connecting with new audiences, spreading the word and ‘revealing optimistic tales that may otherwise remain unheard”.
We also love that Gippslandia feature wonderful stories across many diverse aspects of living in Gippsland including arts, culture, business, food and travel “with both a microfocus and macro twist”. That Gippslandia also showcases the many writers, photographers and creative talents that reside in the area is also a beautiful expression of how community media can work to benefit everyone!
3) Why is it important to your business to support local initiatives?
At the heart of the Wayfairer model we believe we can inspire local communities to create connections, and work together to foster a healthy, resilient, thriving place to visit and live. Robust well connected local communities and initiatives provide vital support for everyone and through our cooperative enterprise we aspire to show how redirecting capital back to regions can positively impact all our communities.
4) What does a successful and supportive community look like to you?
For us a successful and supportive community is one that deeply understands its place, its connections, its rich diversity and celebrates all it has to offer to its residents and visitors. It’s a community that supports everyone, and the environment, and positively contributes to its own wellbeing, resilience, and sense of belonging. A successful and supportive community is also willing to connect and share with other communities, towns and regions.
5) Share your hot tip. How can visitors have the best time in our region?
There is soooo much to enjoy in Gippsland!! Our invitation would be for visitors to be willing to explore, be open, curious, have conversations, ask questions, and connect with locals. Gippsland has extraordinary communities, events, arts, culture, sport, destinations, walking and cycling tracks, food and wine and so much more. It really is a wonder land with little gems hidden everywhere! Get off the beaten track and follow that trail. Who knows where it might lead…