Mentoring operators on positive impact: Future-proofing your region's tourism

Our positive impact mentoring is a capability-building program to help tourism operators understand why "doing the right thing" for the environment and community is a powerful business strategy.

Recognising that many businesses feel overwhelmed by sustainability, this program focuses on making the intangible practical, so benefitting the environmental and community becomes business as usual.

Why bring this program to your destination?

As a destination manager, you are likely looking to grow your region's brand credibility while meeting national and global tourism for good expectations.

Positive impact mentoring will help you achieve:

• Long-term resilience: Improve your destination's ability to withstand economic shifts and extreme weather events.

• High-appeal and high-value visitor attractions: Improve the region's ability to attract respectful, high-value visitors who share your community's values.

• Stronger ecotourism credentials: Boost the number of accredited operators in your region.

• Community wellbeing: Foster a tourism ecosystem that gives back to the local community and celebrates what makes your place special.

How we support your operators

Our program provides tailored, practical solutions that create positive outcomes for individual businesses. We guide operators to become:

• Operationally efficient: Businesses achieve cost savings through improved resource efficiency.

• Accreditation-ready: We simplify the pathway toward Ecotourism Australia’s Strive 4 Sustainability Scorecard, and industry certifications.

• Purpose-Driven: Operators find more meaning in their work, achieve better staff retention, and develop a stronger competitive advantage.

Our three-stage delivery model

We follow a structured framework to ensure lasting change across your destination:

Stage 1: Group Activation

Bringing together local businesses to define what "positive impact" looks like for your region, identifying shared barriers and unique opportunities.

Stage 2: Individual Mentoring

One-on-one sessions with operators to co-assess their current performance and develop a bespoke Positive Impact Action Plan for each participating business.

Stage 3: Inspire Others

Sharing the stories and progress of these local champions to build destination-wide momentum.

Meet your expert team

We are a collective of tourism specialists who understand the challenges of small business owners firsthand.

• Linda Tillman (Tilma Group): A regional tourism strategist with 20 years of experience in destination development and industry capability building.

• Jayne Jennings (JJ Strategic Consulting): A specialist in regenerative tourism mindset shifts and sustainable tourism advocacy.

• Nic Cooper (7 Generations Tourism): An award-winning ecotourism operator who provides the practical "lived experience" of running an Australian-leading certified sustainable business.

• Kushla Gale (Tilma Group): A regional tourism specialist with 20 years of experience on the front lines of tourism who helps businesses contribute to our global community’s Sustainable Development Goals.

Ready to take your destination to the next level?
Let’s work together to build confidence, clarity, and capability.