With over 25 years’ experience in the travel industry, Kate Shilling is on a mission to generate economic growth in regional Australia through the development, distribution and delivery of innovative tourism experiences to local visitors as well as to travellers from further afield.
Kate’s CV includes leadership roles at Flight Centre (in Australia and the USA), Tourism NT, Territory Discoveries, NRMA Travel, Qantas Holidays, Helloworld and Australian Traveller Media. Currently the Executive Officer of Ultimate Winery Experiences Australia (UWEA), Kate is the founder of Family History Holidays, an Ambassador for Australian Regional Tourism, and recently stepped down as the Chair of Destination Riverina Murray after 5 years on the Board.
Kate launched Straightforward Tourism Solutions in March 2017 and has recently worked on a range of side projects including establishing a Dinosaur Tourism Collective in outback Queensland and assessing ag-tourism grant funding applications for the Tasmanian Tourism Innovation Program.
With many STOs and RTOs currently launching agritourism strategies, taking farm tourism forward in a practical way is a particular area of focus for Kate in 2324! Discussions about the different ways to connect emerging and existing agritourism operators, collectively driving positive commercial outcomes community by community are underway!
Kate is a member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and on the Advisory Board of The Sigmund Project, travel and tourism’s first digital not-for-profit, dedicated to innovation and collaboration and open to anyone who has a great idea to advance the global tourism industry.