Fiona Sweetman (left) runs Hidden Secrets Tours, a company that takes people on walks through Melbourne’s lanes, arcades and walkways, showing them places of local colour and interest that are off the beaten path.
And one of the secrets to Hidden Secrets’ success, she tells me, is through leveraging the web and social media. “If it weren’t for the Internet, I wouldn’t be able to do this,” she said.
Up to 70% of her business comes in over the web. Her company’s website enables online bookings, has an active blog and includesFacebook and Twitter feeds which are constantly updated.
She also works with travel agents and tour operators who include her in their programmes for selected customers who want to see another side of Melbourne, the creative, quirky side of the city.
Formerly a wedding dressmaker, Fiona decided she had had enough of dealing with bridal vanities and thought she would focus her energy on showing off the hidden side of Melbourne to not only tourists but also local residents.
Behind her business though is a mission – that of championing Melbourne’s small businesses and creative community.“Melbourne is a city of small businesses which should be supported and celebrated. There was a study in 2008 which said that 86% of businesses in Melbourne employ fewer than 20 people,” she said.
She set up Hidden Secrets Tours in 2004. It was tough in the beginning, she admitted, but slowly word got around and demand grew for her walks.
Currently, her company does about 16 tours a week, with a maximum of eight people in a group. Up to 70% of her business comes from domestic travellers, of whom up to a third are local Victorian residents.
“There are many people in Melbourne who don’t know their own city,” she said.
Of her international customers, most come from New Zealand and Europe, with a growing number from Asia. Her tours are conducted in English and she intends to continue doing that even though there may be commercial arguments for doing Mandarin-speaking tours.
“I want to stick to what I am good at,” she said. “Generally, Asians like the big brand shopping tours and mine is not a shopping tour of big brands; mine is a small business tour.” (Picture – one of Melbourne’s many lanes and arcades)
The day I met her, she took me along a small lane to a café run by Danny and his girlfriend. She’s obviously a familiar face to Danny, who brings us coffee and homemade cake, and stays for a chat.
Danny tells me of his friend, an Australian-Chinese, Vincent who’s also set up a café called The Plains in Craig Road, Singapore. “You should visit his café,” he told me. (I did and have been back to The Plains several times; the coffee is superb and the service fresh and friendly, like an owner-run café should be.)
Said Fiona, “I am looking for a community feeling in what I do in life and Hidden Secrets allows me to do that.”
That evening, my last in Melbourne and looking for a place for dinner, I sent her a text asking for a recommendation. Her response was prompt.
Izakaya Den, a new Japanese restaurant, was tucked away in an office building, a hidden secret of Melbourne I wouldn’t have found if not for Fiona and her mission.
