Tourism industry resources

We support our tourism industry with a range of helpful resources to position Queensland as a world-leading tourism destination.

Accessible tourism

Making your tourism business accessible is not only the right thing to do, it makes good business sense. Create a welcoming environment that everyone can access and enjoy to the fullest.

Sustainable tourism

Sustainability is essential to the future success of every tourism business. The Sustainable tourism toolkit has clear and simple advice to help tourism businesses become more sustainable.

Video: Townsville resort turns water fail into eco-success

Business owners Fiona and Martin Lidgett explain how a water fail in their first week of owning their business led to them building a wetland and a reverse osmosis system.

Learn how Queensland businesses take climate action.

  • [Fiona Lidgett – Co-owner, Townsville Eco Resort]

    Climate action for me personally is about reducing your footprint for now leaving it in a better place for future generations than what it is right now.

    My name's Fiona Lidgett, and myself and my husband, Martin, own Townsville Eco Resort, and we've been here for around 9 years now.

    Just before the floods, we installed solar PV and battery backup, that has reduced our power bills by half and reduces the carbon emissions.

    We have also made use of white roofing systems for cooling effect and things like that, ensured our lighting is LED, our lighting is on timing as well.

    We have a number of recycling programs in place where we mulch a lot of our green waste on site to reduce emissions, we do recycling for our cans and bottles and things, and the money that we earn back from that goes into habitat protection within the park.

    When we took over, we had water fail in the first week of our ownership, and we came up with the option of a reverse osmosis system. We constructed the wetland, which purifies all our onsite wastewater.

    As an advanced ecotourism business, we very much support our local region in ecotourism, especially, we're right in the middle of the Great Barrier Reef.

    The constructed wetland helps with water runoff to the reef, it enables that water to be very clean.

    [Jason Lange – Director, Atlas Soils]

    The ecosystems in the Great Barrier Reef catchment are very unique and very interesting as an ecological professional, so the resort allows people, academics, and visitors a chance to interact with the wetland that's not commonly in an urban area.

    So Atlas Soils involvement was around biological best practice on the banks of the wetland, and so, that's very much about activating the biology that keeps that wetland system functioning optimally.

    [Fiona Lidgett]

    There's been a huge benefit to us in the environment here, we've seen a lot of wildlife return.

    It's important to know that you don't have to have a huge business to be able to start somewhere, it might be recycling your paper, it might be putting some solar in, and it's just a matter of exploring those options available.

    We're very proud that Townsville region has a great base and a great support network for implementing environmental initiatives and supporting climate action from local council to local government to small businesses.

    If you don't have the knowledge, you've got to reach out to the people that have it that can hold your hand along the way.

Queensland tourism business financial and wellness support

Complete the Tourism Business Health Check to understand and improve your business resilience.

Small business financial counsellors and rural financial counsellors provide free support to help tourism operators who have been impacted financially.

Wellness coaches provided personalised, one-on-one support for business challenges, needs, and opportunities.

Tourism disaster planning and recovery

Tourism organisations and operators can learn how to prepare for, respond to, and recover from a disaster or crisis.

Prepare your tourism and hospitality business for disasters

Access disaster support and assistance to help your tourism business recover after a disaster. Visit natural disaster assistance for information on disaster grants after severe weather.

Help your region recover quickly using these natural disaster response steps and messages.

Keep Queensland tourists safe with these visitor safety tips, including information on what to do, who to call, and where to go before, during, and after a disaster.

Visitor safety tips resources

Print and display the visitor safety tips in your business or venue:

Next generation tourism planning

The next generation tourism planning guideline provides a framework and guidelines that enable the efficient delivery of tourism development.

Developed in consultation with government, stakeholders and industry, the guideline is applicable to a broad range of tourism projects and relevant to all regions and local government areas across Queensland. It provides guidance on:

  • planning for tourism and tourism development
  • incorporating planning into Queensland's statutory planning framework.

Best practice guide for working with First Nations tourism in Queensland

To strengthen the relationship between Indigenous Australia and Queensland's tourism industry, the Queensland Tourism Industry Council has produced a best practice guide for working with First Nations tourism in Queensland (PDF, 2.7MB).

This guide provides a practical framework for recognising people and places, safeguarding intellectual property rights and cultural protocols, and respecting Indigenous heritage. It contains essential resources and protocols for engaging with First Nations peoples in the tourism sector.

Queensland conventions sector

The Queensland Government has conducted a review of the conventions sector in Queensland. The review analysed convention-capable facilities to understand how well they are utilised relative to each other and to other states. The review also addressed the needs of the sector, gaps in the current service delivery, impacts of demand caused by future events and potential for future investment.

The Summary of key outcomes: Queensland Conventions Sector Review and Guidance (PDF, 386KB) provides guidance for industry considering submission of any proposal for new convention centre infrastructure and/or expansion of existing infrastructure to the Queensland Government.

To discuss a proposal for new or expanded convention facilities, email the Tourism division at tourism@dtis.qld.gov.au

More information