Our Board

Director

John King brings experience of a 48 year background in highly successful and widely recognised international tourism marketing and management.

For most of his tourism career he has been responsible for the development and management of successful destination marketing and development strategies, a number of which have been recognised with international awards. For 20 years he owned an international tourism consultancy through which he worked as an adviser to governments, multilateral agencies, tourism authorities, industry organisations and companies principally throughout Australia, Asia, Pacific and the Middle East.

He is widely recognised for his work particularly in the fields of Indigenous tourism, wine and food tourism and destination brand development.

He has served on a wide range of industry and company Boards. He was Chairman of Tourism Tasmania, for nine years and Chairman of the Australian Tourism Export Council (ATEC) for a similar time. He is the Australian Tourism Minister’s nominee to the Board of Uluru Kata Tjuta National Park and was the NSW Minister for the Environment’s tourism appointee to the Board of Management of Lord Howe Island. He was appointed in 2011 by the NSW State Government as one of four members of the Visitor Economy Taskforce responsible for developing the Government’s NSW Visitor Economy Plan. He was also Chairman of Southern Travel Holdings with major tourism operations in New Zealand, Australia and Asia.

He has been invited to speak at numerous international conferences, including the United Nations World Tourism Organisation conference on Pilgrimage Tourism (Santigo de Compostela), the UNWTO/UNESCO First World Conference on Heritage Tourism (Siem Reap), and was key note speaker at the World Indigenous Tourism Conference (Vancouver). He has also served on the Board of the Pacific Asia Travel Association and was an advisor to the United Nations World Tourism Organisation

In 2011 he was awarded an Order of Australia Medal for his contribution to tourism in Australia. In addition he received the 2010 Pacific Asia Travel Association Award of Merit for Tourism leadership, and is an Honorary Fellow of Southern Cross University in recognition for his contribution to tourism education and research.

Mr King has been appointed to the NSW Crown Holiday Park Land Manager Board for a term of 5 years from 1 May 2020.

Director

Ms Sally Barnes brings a wealth of experience in public land and asset management and place and experience planning through leadership roles in the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service, Parks Australia and most recently the National Capital Authority in Canberra.

Sally has worked in Senior Executive positions for both the Commonwealth and NSW Governments for the last 25 years. She has helped shape state and Commonwealth marine and terrestrial conservation policies and protected areas - always with an eye on making them attractive and accessible for public use wherever possible. Sally has led large organisations such as the Office of Environment and Heritage with over 4,000 staff spread across NSW, and small bespoke planning and design agencies such as the National Capital Authority with 60 people.

Sally has shared Board responsibilities with elected traditional owners, commercial experts and tourism operators, marketing experts, planners and distinguished architects. In her role as Director of National Parks for the Australian Government she was a Board member on the Kakadu National Park Joint Management Board, the Uluru Kata Tjuta National Park and Booderee National Park joint Boards of management. She was recently both Chief Executive and a Board member of the National Capital Authority. While working for the NSW Government she chaired the NSW Environmental Trust and was a member of the NSW State Contracts Control Board. Sally played a pivotal role in bringing the World Parks Congress with over 6,000 delegates to Sydney in 2014 and setting future directions for conservation and tourism in parks across the world.

Sally has driven meaningful community engagement in planning destinations and in the management of public places. Through the development of new products, improved marketing and respectful partnerships, Sally and her teams have increased visitation and customer satisfaction levels across a range of destinations. Her marketing team at the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service began the first on-line accommodation booking service on public land and were leaders in tracking visitation and peoples enjoyment of their experiences.

Sally has always been a big supporter of getting people out into nature. She has a keen interest in understanding the role immersion in nature can play in shaping good mental health.