Journey Beyond acquires Ayers Rock Resort in deal which will benefit traditional owners
American tourism giant Journey Beyond has acquired Voyages Indigenous Tourism Australia in a $500m deal that returns Uluru resort buildings and freehold to the control of traditional owners.
American private equity-owned tourism business Journey Beyond has struck a deal to acquire Voyages Indigenous Tourism Australia, with the freehold and buildings included in the deal ultimately to be transferred to Indigenous ownership.
The deal has been tipped to benefit the communities to the tune of $500m, although the terms of the sale of the operations at Ayers Rock Resort at Yulara in the Northern Territory and the Mossman Gorge Cultural Centre in far north Queensland, by the Indigenous Land and Sea Corporation (ILSC), were not disclosed.
Journey Beyond was revealed to be in “exclusive” talks to complete the deal in September, with a rumoured price tag at the time of around $300m.
In the past financial year, Voyages reported total revenue of $213.6m - up from $186m in 2024 - and it generated a $1.6m net profit, bouncing back from a $20.4m loss a year earlier. The company cited a lift in visitation and revenue, alongside effective cost control and reduced interest expenses, for the turnaround.
A forerunner of the ILSC bought the sprawling resort at Yulara in the Red Centre from property company GPT Group in 2010 in a deal worth about $300m. Four years later it had been written down to $202.5m and then Indigenous Land Corporation chairwoman Dawn Casey called it as perhaps the “largest single evaporation of public moneys in the indigenous policy domain, ever”.
By June this year, the Ayers Rock Resort was valued at $380m, although this related to the entire asset. But there were heavy debts associated with the assets. A loan provided by the ILSC to Voyages associated with the Ayers Rock Resort purchase had a $320.6m loan balance owing and it had provided other support.
The deal will be completed via a series of sales of the remaining Voyages shares held by the ILSC, which is expected to be completed in early 2026.
Upon completion of the share sales, the land and buildings on the sites will be transferred to the community corporations representative of the Anangu people of Yulara and the Kuku Yalanji people of Mossman Gorge, leaving Journey Beyond with the operational assets. Voyages’ management team will be kept in place.
Journey Beyond will then begin leases at the Yulara and Mossman Gorge sites for 90 years and 10 years, respectively.
ILSC chief executive Joe Morrison said the deal was “the culmination of years of work” to divest land and transfer it to traditional owners. “We are pleased to move closer to fulfilling the ILSC’s statutory obligations of returning land to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, and in doing so, create benefit for traditional owners at both Yulara and Mossman Gorge, as well as Indigenous people at local, regional and national levels,” he said. “From the outset, the ILSC’s focus has been on maximising Indigenous benefit. Through the agreement announced today and the ancillary transaction documents, we will see more than $500m in benefit flowing to the first nations community.”
Journey Beyond chief executive Chris Tallent said the purchase was “an exciting expansion and perfectly aligns with Journey Beyond’s central purpose of creating amazing iconic experiences that are immersive, authentic and uniquely Australian”.
Journey Beyond, owned by Crestview partners in the US, is headquartered in Adelaide and offers experiential tours and holidays nationwide – and most notably operates the Ghan and Indian Pacific rail journeys.
Ayers Rock Resort, the sole accommodation option for holiday-makers wishing to visit Uluru, contains six hotels and a campground. In 2023 Uluru had about 240,000 people visit, although that was almost 60 per cent down on pre-pandemic levels. The sale of Voyages assets was tipped by DataRoom in June.
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Originally published as Journey Beyond acquires Ayers Rock Resort in deal which will benefit traditional owners
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