Business Development Coaching
Experience Gold Coast
Experience Gold Coast is the regional tourism organisation for Queensland’s famous Gold Coast and its hinterland. The Gold Coast attracts almost 5 million overnight visitors per year, including over 600,000 international visitors.
Project purpose
To enable more Gold Coast tourism operators to become Best of Queensland Experiences, Experience Gold Coast contracted Jayne Jennings of JJ Strategic Consulting supported by Linda Tillman and Kushla Gale of Tilma Group to deliver free business coaching to its members on Tourism & Events Queensland’s Best of Queensland Experiences Program.
The Best of Queensland Experiences Program assesses Queensland tourism businesses on their ability deliver exceptional experiences, and create positive word of mouth recommendations for Queensland.
The program assesses businesses on:
Consistent delivery of an exceptional experience based on positive customer reviews
Having a website with secure booking platform
An active and engaging social media presence
Regional tourism organisation membership
Accreditation
Project overview
For six months we provide coaching on these criteria, and where additional time was available, coaching also covered
Website, accessibility and sustainability improvements
Experience enhancements
70 businesses leveraged the free opportunity for business coaching, businesses as diverse as a jet boat experience, a whale watching cruise, apartment hotels, events, jet ski-ing, axe throwing, camper hire, a surf school, surf clubs, a golf club, a wildlife park, and many others.
Each was provided with a tailored action plan to support becoming or maintaining their status as a Best of Queensland Experience in 2025. They were also provided with other resources, such as best practice websites, social media accounts and review response examples, and relevant funding programs available.
The team also delivered a webinar on the program including tips and best practice examples. This was recorded for Experience Gold Coast to share with its members along with a tip sheet and case studies of businesses that demonstrate good practice on the Best of Queensland Experiences Program criteria.
Project outcomes
The region achieved improvements in its Best of Queensland Experience results the following year.
375 Gold Coast tourism businesses (compared to 349 in 2024) were recognised as a Best of Queensland Experience (an increase of 7%)
76 businesses received a perfect 100 out of 100 points (compared with 51 in 2024 and 24 in 2023) (an increase of 49%)
61% had a ReviewPro score above 80 with the average being 88 for the Gold Coast (that is, the average of all their ratings by guests on all online review websites)
The number of businesses who achieved accreditation doubled.
Referee
Judy Quodling
Industry Development Officer
Experience Gold Coast
07 5584 6223
judy.quodling@destinationgoldcoast.com
or
Ashleigh Barnes
Partnership & Membership Officer
Experience Gold Coast
07 5584 6243
ashleigh.barnes@destinationgoldcoast.com
Want to strengthen your region’s tourism businesses from the inside out?
We offer practical, one-on-one business development coaching that helps operators improve their visitor experiences, boost marketing performance, and meet accreditation or program criteria — with tailored action plans that get results.
