An Australian-first collaborative approach to acquiring events has resulted in a huge economic benefit for Victoria’s Gippsland region.

Events Gippsland, a collaboration of six Councils to pool resources to acquire events rather than compete and duplicate effort and resources, has provided a return on investment of 80:1 so far.

Tourism and events are symbiotic

• Events give people a reason to travel to destinations

• Successful tourism strategies increase attendee numbers, and broaden the reach and boost the reputation of events which enhances the visitor experience

It’s the perfect time to consider how to develop and grow exceptional Indigenous tourism businesses with Australia’s national tourism strategy, THRIVE 2030, prioritising the respectful embedding of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and cultures into the visitor economy through initial partnerships and ongoing inclusion, and the opportunity of growing unique and high-quality products, including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander experiences.

We are seeing a shift in consumer demand for sustainable travel. Travellers want to support destinations, events and tourism businesses that are being responsible and doing good for their community and the environment.

Insider grant writing tips from tourism grant writers, and from the agencies that provide grants

Are you prepared for the funding opportunity available to regional tourism?

There is currently significant federal, state and local government funding available to support regional tourism development and recovery from bushfires and COVID-19, ranging from arts and Indigenous grants to event and infrastructure grants.

What’s new for the 2021 Australian Tourism Awards plus links to information on your state’s tourism awards

We gathered the top tourism marketing tips from colleagues and tourism industry friends

Right now there is so much government investment via grant funding to revitalise domestic tourism, particularly for regions recovering from bushfire and drought, in addition to COVID-recovery. This is the time to prepare ‘shovel-ready’ projects for grant applications that will be announced in coming months.

For the second year I have had the pleasure of participating as a mentor in the Queensland Tourism industry Council (QTIC) Young Professionals Mentoring Program.

This year I had the absolute pleasure of working with Tennille Wendt from the Ironman Group, a young passionate events professional

For those that missed out, here are our key take outs and learnings from the conference.

New accreditation, category descriptors, marketing and sustainability sections, NSW Regional Tourism Awards now include all regional Destination Networks, and a hall of fame for the People’s Choice in the Queensland Tourism Awards.

(We couldn’t help sharing the photo from our local Australian Tourism Award winner, Toowoomba Carnival of Flowers!)

Missed attending DestinationQ?
Want to know how to make your tourism event more manageable?
Want to know how to maximise benefits from your region's events?

Here are Tilma’s key take-outs from the recent events conference.

Finding enough volunteers is a huge challenge for many regional festivals and events. Here are some tips from us - but we want to know: what has worked best for your event to recruit and keep volunteers?

Ever thought to use an event to activate your destination’s brand? 

Or use an event to attract visitors from the city?

Here we use Taste Riverina festival to showcase one model of event management that spreads the load amongst many partners - and leverages a city event to bring visitors to the country! 

Sometimes an awful lot of money is wasted in regional tourism.

Here are some examples of the kinds of waste we see, and a couple of ideas on the benefits of critically considering choices and seeking out more options.

As a way for the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games to meaningfully include Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, they has done something no other major sporting event in the world has done: develop a Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP) to leave a lasting and meaningful legacy for Indigenous Australians beyond the traditional inclusion of culture in Opening Ceremonies.

Events and tourism destinations may have different objectives, but the No.1 goal should be for them to work together to create LOYAL event and destination ADVOCATES.
Read on about Linda Tillman's presentation on the special relationship between tourism and events at the Australian Event Symposium.

Tips about how to write and plan content and who for, insights into social media platforms and trends, SEO, how to write blogs, and leveraging partnerships.
A ton of useful info packed into one blog - we didn't want to break it up because it's all from a digital marketing workshop provided by our regional tourism organisation for free!