How do you decide what sights and attractions to take in when you go to visit a new place? If you are at all like me you immediately hit the TripAdvisor button and find out what travellers have to say about a place. TripAdvisor, for those who don’t know, is a world travel site which carries recommendations from travellers about the places they have seen and stayed at. The thing about TripAdvisor is, it’s honest and can’t be influenced by business owners. Here, at “Louisa’s Walk”, we’re really proud to have been the number one rated thing to do in Hobart for the last couple of years. However, Samuel McLellan at Great Expeditions is snapping at our heels! Samuel has only been running his personalised tour company for just under a year but he is already number two on TripAdvisor.
Actually we don’t mind at all and we’ll invite him for a glass of champagne when he overtakes us! As any business owner knows, competition is great and, actually, Great Expeditions is not a competitor but works in with “Louisa’s Walk”. Samuel tailor makes tours to his clients tastes and one of the options he offers is a “Louisa’s Walk” then a tour up Mount Wellington – all beautifully lubricated with some lovely Tassie wines and foods – hmmm sounds more than okay to me! We have had the pleasure of taking Samuel and his clients a couple of times now on “Louisa’s Walk” and look forward to many more!
But what really interests me is what does it take to get a visitor to our lovely city to choose to experience something like “Louisa’s Walk”? Obviously, we take a lot of visitors who have convict ancestry – they’re a shoe- in, their interest already piqued but, others who have no interest in history? Presumably, one of the attractions that has helped to make the decision to visit Tasmania in the first place is our natural beauty and, just maybe, our history? Visitors from interstate often tell me how wonderful our old buildings are and how they have nothing like them where they come from. Tasmania has a rich history, everyone flocks down to Port Arthur but in fact, there is so much more right on Hobart’s doorstep.
What is it about “Louisa’s Walk” that so captivates people? I would hazard a guess that it is the magic of storytelling. Whether you are interested in history or not, everyone loves a good story! Right back when we gathered around our camp fires to tell tales of the hunt, to the much more sophisticated, movies and television of the present day – it’s all about a good story. “Louisa’s Walk” engages you, it makes you laugh, it makes you cry. These are emotions that stay with you. These are things you remember.
