TOURISM PROFILE: MEET SARAH CLARK, CEO, TOURISM TASMANIA

By the time we go to print, you’re sure to have heard the phrase, “new year, new me” bandied about more times than you’ve broken your own New Year’s resolutions. For the state’s destination marketing body, Tourism Tasmania, it’s a case of new year, new CEO, and the transition is much more meaningful than a halfhearted attempt to kick the thrice-a-day chocolate habit. We sat down with new TTas CEO Sarah Clark to get her take on what’s so important about her new position, as well as to unpack a life well-travelled. Having spent the latter part of 2022 getting around the state to meet with tourism operators from as many corners as possible, Sarah officially stepped into the role in January this year and says it’s been an inspiring start. and understanding both what customers wanted from their tourism interactions as well as how to deliver that on the ground.

While the role itself is new, Sarah’s involvement with Tourism Tasmania goes back some time, having sat on its board for over a year. Moving into an internal position with the organisation has given her a more granular understanding, as well as the capacity to have a more practical impact. With a career history covering largely commercial roles, Sarah brings a unique perspective to the government body.

“My background is in the private sector, so I understand that everyone is running a business and needs it to be successful,” she says.

Sarah’s toes were dipped in the industry from a young age. Growing up in a family that was involved in tourism and hospitality, she started working in restaurants while at school, and later took a gap year to travel.

While studying tourism at university, Sarah began tour guiding on the east coast of Australia and New Zealand. She credits this experience with deepening her insight into the tourism ecosystem,

Not one to resist the everpersistent travel bug, Sarah spent six months backpacking around South America after graduating, before relocating to Europe to work as a guide and then reservations agent with Topdeck Travel, an international tour operator offering trips all over the world for 18-39 year-olds. She was eventually lured back to Tassie to work in Sales & Marketing with Inkeepers Tasmania. Sarah says that this role was her first real taste of the inbound tourism market, and gave her a new appreciation for Australia’s unique brand proposition.

“The way we market Australia is different to anywhere else in the world, and that’s largely because of the strength of Tourism Australia and the state marketing bodies, and the support that’s provided to tourism businesses,” she says. “It’s such an advantage for us here in Tassie, and will be so important as we move back to focusing on international tourism.”

At 25 years old, Sarah succumbed to the travel itch again, this time moving to Canada to work with Topdeck running their sales and marketing for North and South Americas. Following on from her experience domestically, she spent more than three years learning still more about international markets, selling tours in the United States and South America to Canada. It was in this role that she caught the interest of one of the travel agency accounts that she serviced, STA Travel. While her plan was to travel to Africa after finishing up with Topdeck, Sarah was offered a role as STA’s Vice President for Product, Marketing and Online, based in Dallas, Texas. She says it was the biggest career leap she had taken to date.

“It was probably the hardest learning curve of my career – I went from leading a team of about five people (at Topdeck) to leading a team of about 50. I had the responsibility of about 100 million online transactions across the United States, and felt totally unqualified for the role.

“But the CEO believed in me and supported me. He had a really good financial understanding so I learnt a lot about how to run a business based on a commercial mindset there, and I probably wouldn’t be where I am now if I hadn’t taken that big step.”

After two years in the role, Sarah returned to Australia as Topdeck’s General Manager for Australia and New Zealand. Based in Brisbane, she says that the opportunity to work in the Australian travel industry again was a significant drawcard.

When Flight Centre bought Topdeck in 2014, Sarah was involved in the acquisition and integration process, and became part of the brand’s global leadership team based in London. With over 150 brands under the Flight Centre umbrella, she says it was a standout experience in identifying and establishing best practice for the many different areas of the business. While change management was not what she studied or signed up for, Sarah says it came naturally to her, and has stood her in good stead for many of the professional and personal milestones in her life. were out there for me,” she says. “I wanted to feel totally disconnected so I took a year off and travelled the world, including finally getting to Africa.” people in a positive way.

“A lot of it comes down to emotional intelligence, and understanding what’s going on around you and how people are perceiving things. I think it’s really important to understand different ways of thinking about things, to listen, and to step back and reflect.”

With another two years in the UK under her belt, Sarah undertook a trek to Mount Everest Base Camp, and says that experience was the stimulus for the next steps in her career.

“I remember feeling so small amongst those massive mountains and realising how many more opportunities

Also amongst that year-long adventure was a cycling trip around Sri Lanka, Spanish classes in Madrid, surfing lessons in Portugal, and diving the Blue Hole in Belize. And, like something out of a coffee table book for ultimate bucket lists, Sarah spent 19 days at sea sailing across the Pacific Ocean from the Galapagos Islands to French Polynesia, with not another boat in sight for the duration of the voyage. Eventually, she returned to Australia with a renewed sense of purpose and aspiration. With a conviction to work for a company with a global view and connection, Sarah landed on Intrepid Travel, the world’s largest small group adventure travel company. In her role as General Manager of Marketing and, later, Managing Director for Australia and New Zealand, Sarah discovered a new passion for purpose-driven business.

“Everything that we did came with a lens of positive impact,” she says. “Integrating and engraining that into everything the business does means that it’s in every decision that you make, at all levels of the organisation.

“Purpose-driven businesses are actually more successful than their counterparts, because the idea of positive impact goes through the whole enterprise. From attracting the right talent to team culture, it’s a different way of thinking, and customers actually want to purchase from those businesses.”

While the first half of her five-year tenure with Intrepid was based out of Melbourne, Sarah worked remotely from Tasmania for just over two years during Covid lockdowns. It was this time in her home state that gave her a gentle nudge into finding a role closer to her roots.

“Being based here and working for a global company, I struggled with the limited connection to tourism locally. It was great to join the board, and when the CEO role came up, I saw it as the dream opportunity to bring the experience of working in tourism all around the world to Tasmania.”

With a full agenda ahead of her, Sarah’s priorities as head of Tourism Tasmania include working with and supporting local tourism operators, and taking their product to the world. She is also motivated to inspire people to join the tourism industry and, ultimately, undertaking strategic plans to ensure the positive impact of Tasmanian tourism into the future, for visitors and the local community alike.

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