Tourism award submissions take time — so why not set yourself up for success? Our top tip for creating a winning entry is simple: write a business plan. In this blog, we share a free template, proven strategies, and the inside scoop on how to make your submission shine, based on years of award-winning experience.

At Tilma, we believe the real magic happens after the strategy is written. That’s why we work with councils and destination managers on long-term tourism development journeys—mentoring, supporting, and activating strategies year after year. This case study of Central Queensland Highlands shows what’s possible when strategy meets sustained support.

This case study looks at a Council that invested in making over a dozen venues event-ready and makes it easy for event organisers to learn about these venues, successfully attracting events to their region.

Thinking about growing or improving your agritourism offering? Across Australia, there’s a wealth of support available—if you know where to look. This guide breaks down the best tools, grants, training, and planning resources by state to help you turn your agritourism idea into a visitor-ready experience.

In 2024, Tilma Group proudly delivered 28 tourism development projects, directly benefiting 25 regional communities and 21 business owners. From strategy and mentoring to sustainability and social impact, this year we looked at both the small steps and the big picture. Here’s how we created meaningful change across regional Australia.

We don’t need more plans—we need more action. In this call-to-arms for 2025, Tilma Group’s Linda Tillman challenges destination managers and local governments to stop over-consulting and start leading with purpose. If your strategy is gathering dust, now’s the time to activate it.

Wondering which sustainability accreditation program is best for your needs?

Here’s a quick overview of the options for all types of tourism businesses to get you started!

You’ve won! What a feeling!

Now, how to leverage your award to get the most benefit out of it? You earned it; be proud and tell the world!

Cootamundra-Gundagai Regional Council and Tilma Group have won a National Economic Development Award for Excellence for agritourism development.

Cootamundra-Gundagai Regional Council near Wagga Wagga is one of Australia’s leading Councils for proactively developing agritourism.  

Here is what they have achieved with the support of grants and Tilma Group since 2018 - which was recognised with a national economic development award.

What a fabulous few days our industry has just had in Mackay Queensland for the Australian Regional Tourism Convention!

I was honoured to be flying the flag for regional events, presenting on measuring the social value of events.

Transformation is about achieving aspirations.

We need to look at our customers, residents, visitors, etc, and think about what they are aspiring to become. Only then can we start to design experiences that will help them achieve that aspiration.

It’s about the outcomes that people are looking for in themselves.

Linda’s key takeaways from the WA Tourism Conference

Takeaways from the Global Sustainable Tourism Summit

Linda’s key takeaways from Local Government NSW’s Destination & Visitor Economy Conference

A series of Inspiring Agritourism webinars on best practice case studies to support agritourism development.

Randall Breen of Echo Valley Farm in the Goomburra Valley approaches farming and agritourism by developing intimate relationships and with ethical decision making.

Never underestimate the power of an anchor tourism product to drive broad benefits across a destination and region.

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.

Are your tourism plans such as your Destination Management Plan, Regional Events Strategy, or Visitor Servicing Strategy living documents that guide what you work on, or have they been kind of forgotten as time passed since they were created?