Tourism Noosa Leadership Program

The Challenge

Noosa is a tourism powerhouse. The destination has enjoyed unprecedented growth in visitor numbers in recent times, and the shift for Tourism Noosa, the region’s peak tourism organisation, is towards sustainability and industry cohesiveness rather than mass growth in visitation.

In late 2019 ITLA partnered with Tourism Noosa to develop a Noosa-specific program based on collective leadership and further developing cohesiveness within the industry, as well delving into more specific tourism skill sets including experience development, and packaging and bundling. These skills are vital for success in a very competitive tourism market.

The Process

Firstly, ITLA assisted Tourism Noosa to successfully secure funding to enable the program through the Federal Government’s Building Better Regions Fund. This tailored program, designed specifically to meet the needs of the region and the program’s participants, included:

  • A range of leadership workshops and one on one coaching sessions;
  • Packaging and bundling workshops and mentoring sessions;
  • Experience development workshops and mentoring sessions; and
  • The Tourism Noosa Leadership Roadshow to Southern Tasmania allowed exposure to numerous ‘best in class’ tourism products and experiences first hand.

The program took place across a 4 month period [with a tourism case study again being a key focus of the leadership elements of the program] with the roadshow experience enabling operators to capture key learnings and processes from like minded businesses, to improve their own tourism product and experience offerings.

The Outcomes

There will be a number of outcomes from this program for Noosa including the following:

  • The development of a connected cadre of 10 tourism leaders that will now act as ambassadors of the region and its tourism sector;
  • Identifying local solutions and innovations which develop self-reliance and embrace tourism and business opportunities;
  • Development of new tourism packages and experiences for participants to take to market, diversifying the range of tourism experiences on offer in Noosa;
  • Build sector knowledge, leadership and resilience to future challenges;
  • Leaders who know their personal strengths and role, their levels of emotional intelligence and capacity to self-regulate, stay in the zone, build personal resilience, increase motivational behaviour and inspire others through passion; and
  • Leaders who can create engaged and positive workplace culture, understand team dynamics and achieve outcomes, inspire, include and motivate, and have the energy and effort to succeed.