The first step in establishing a successful visitor economy business, such as an attraction, tour or accommodation, is careful research and planning.

Taking the time to research your market, your competition; and creating a plan will help you set a vision for your business, identify opportunities and react swiftly to market changes.

Before buying or launching a business, it is a good idea to:

  • Prepare a detailed feasibility study to assess all areas of your business and areas of risk
  • Prepare a business plan that covers management, marketing, finance, and human resources.

Starting a business plan

As part of your business planning process, establish the following:

Mission

A mission is a clear statement of your business purpose. Your mission guides everything you do, why you do it, and what you want to accomplish.

Values

Your values reflect the experience you offer. Decide what your business stands for, then establish the philosophy and values that guide your activities, both internally and externally.

Goals

Be specific about what you want your business to achieve. Your goals could refer to overall revenue or profitability, new experiences you want to launch, or customer service standards you want to achieve.

Make your goals SMART: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Time-bound.

TIP: Refer to your plan regularly and adapt it as required to meet market changes.

The Service NSW Business Bureau is a great resource that can provide professional advice on starting a business and preparing a business plan, and through the Small Business Advisory program, small businesses can receive four hours of free advice from independent, experienced advisors. 

Business.gov.au also provides helpful information on business planning, including a business plan template and setting goals for your business.

Research

Research is an important first step in formulating a successful strategy for your business. It is essential to have a good understanding of the visitor economy in Australia, in NSW and in your region. Through your research, find out who is currently visiting your destination and who is paying for visitor experiences like yours.

Research should be an ongoing business practice. The visitor economy is constantly changing due to economic conditions, technology, and cultural and social trends. Staying up to date with market trends and changes will help you plan and be prepared for anything that may affect your business.

Destination NSW provides data and research to help NSW visitor economy businesses strengthen their marketing and business decisions. Learn more here.

Other research resources include:

Establish demand

When starting a new business or developing a new visitor experience, it is important to ask whether there is demand for what you are offering.

The following questions can help you form the basis of your research:

  • What types of experiences are visitors to my region looking for?
  • Is there a market for my experience?
  • Who is travelling to my region and what markets are they from?
  • Can my experience adapt to changing visitor economy trends?
  • Are any other businesses offering similar experiences?
  • How much are visitors willing to pay for my experience?

Understand your competition, destination and seasonality

Analyse the competition

NSW has a diverse range of visitor experiences. Before you get started, find out as much as you can about other experiences in your destination.

Having a good understanding of the competition can help you identify gaps in the market, so you can understand what makes your experience unique.

The following questions will help with your competitive analysis:

  • Who are your competitors? – In your region, in NSW and in Australia?
  • What standard is their visitor experience?
  • What level of service do they offer?
  • How often do they run their tours or experiences?
  • What are their trading hours?
  • What are their strengths and weaknesses?
  • Do they sell their experience through third party distribution channels such as online travel agents?
  • How do visitors book their experience?

Tips on where you can analyse the competition include:

  • Look up other businesses including tours, attractions, and accommodation on VisitNSW.com and Sydney.com
  • Visit the destination website of your local tourism organisation
  • Explore review sites, including TripAdvisor, to identify what competitors are doing well and why
  • Explore online travel agent (OTA) websites to understand what is already being sold in your destination. For tour and activity providers, this could include GetYourGuide, Klook or RedBalloon, and for accommodation providers, websites like Booking.com or AirBnB. Visit the How to sell online via distribution partners for more information on OTA and experience websites.
  • Talk to your local industry to gain further insights about your region, including your Destination Network, Accredited Visitor Information Centre, local tourism manager and other visitor economy businesses.
  • Contact your Destination Network and refer to your Destination Management Plan (DMP) to find out if gaps, challenges, and opportunities exist in your region.

Destination NSW has developed a free competitor analysis template, assisting you to assess what you are currently doing well in comparison to other businesses in your region, NSW and beyond.

Consider what is unique about your destination

What is unique about your destination? How you can leverage this as part of your visitor experience. For example, is your destination:

As an example, if you have identified you are located within an Uptown District, meaning the area aims to become a vibrant going-out hub, offering a guided nigh tour or late opening as a visitor experience may align well with the destination offering.

Or, if you are located within a NSW certified destination, consider how you can implement your own sustainability initiatives and become a certified business to share this story with your visitors.

Visit 10 foundations of an elevated visitor experience to better understand how you can leverage events and be part of the visitor journey.

Understand seasonality

A good understanding of the seasonal fluctuations that will impact your experience and your destination will help you with your business planning. High and low seasons can be influenced by weather, school holidays, weekends, special events and more.

Ensure that you are ready to cope with the demands of the high season and have appropriate strategies in place for the low season.

This comes back to careful planning and understanding of your business and where you are located. For example, will you need extra, properly trained staff at certain times of the year? Does your cash flow allow for the low and shoulder seasons? Can you introduce promotions or local collaborations in the quieter months? Can you target new markets that travel outside of peak seasons?

Develop a unique selling proposition

Once you have considered what makes your experience different from competitors and why it would appeal to your desired visitors, you can identify your Unique Selling Proposition.

A unique selling proposition, often referred to as USP, is what makes you stand out from your competitors, for example the highest quality, the experience features or the only experience of its kind.

Find out more about identifying your unique selling proposition under Marketing tools 101.

Staff and customer service strategy

A strong NSW visitor economy depends on a skilled, supported and engaged workforce. The tourism workforce is the backbone of the state’s visitor economy, driving growth and exceptional experiences. Supporting your staff and their career development is therefore critical to the visitor economy’s continued success.

Employing great staff

Hiring great employees, and training and empowering them to look after your visitors will help make your visitors' experiences memorable.

To ensure your staff have everything they need to exceed visitor expectations, you need to provide:

  • Appropriate knowledge and training
  • Motivation to improve and achieve business goals
  • Inspiration and autonomy.

Three ways to recruit and retain great staff:

  • Build a solid company culture
  • Train and upskill
  • Recognise and reward.

Train and upskill

Take time to train both new and existing employees. It is worth developing an ongoing training and mentoring program for your staff, ensuring they continue to improve their skills and acquire new ones.

Consider including the following in your training program:

  • Policies and procedures to support streamlined operations and consistent delivery of your experience
  • Give staff the opportunity to participate in your experience firsthand - take your tour, stay a night in your hotel, or dine in the restaurant
  • Destination training - ensure staff are aware of other things to see and do in the region. This allows them to make personal recommendations, which adds to the overall visitor experience
  • Career development opportunities - help staff to learn new skills or complete a formal qualification to improve their skills (and your business).

Recognise and reward

Happy, energised and fulfilled staff can lead to success, profitability, and productivity. If staff are happy, they are more likely to go above and beyond to assist visitors, provide excellent service, and remain loyal to their employer.

Put a program in place to reward and recognise staff, which may include:

  • Setting benchmark goals with incentives or bonuses
  • Opportunities for further training and development
  • Regular formal and informal recognition of performance and achievement
  • Asking your staff what they would like to see or learn, and what would make them feel valued and recognised
  • Rewarding your staff and thanking them for a job well done.

To connect with job seekers across the visitor economy, visit Eeger. Eeger also offers information about education, training, and careers in the visitor economy.

Additionally, explore TAFE NSW courses and opportunities, including those in Tourism and Events and Food and Hospitality.

Customer service

The most successful visitor experiences consistently offer outstanding customer service, with the visitor at the core of everything they do.

Great customer service does not just happen; it is something that you need to plan. As part of your business plan, it is essential to develop a customer service strategy that defines the standard of service you offer, the quality of staff training you provide and sets the requirements for meeting those standards.

For more information, business.gov.au provides helpful tips on customer service, including communicating with customers and managing customer relationships.

Getting the right advice

Destination NSW is here to support you as you establish and develop your visitor economy business. There are also other organisations that provide assistance, from obtaining permits to professional services.

Business licencing and permits

You may need government licences and permits before you can start your business. The Australian Business Licence and Information Service (ABLIS) is a free service that simplifies the process of finding out which licences your business needs.

If operating on public or protected land, you must apply for the appropriate permits. This process may involve contacting local councils and obtaining permits with NSW Crown Lands, Forestry Corporation of NSW, NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) Parks Eco Pass program or NSW Marine Parks.

Hospitality businesses are encouraged to connect with the Hospitality Concierge and NSW Food Authority.

Business support

Service NSW Business Bureau

The Service NSW Business Bureau can help your business. You can get personalised support to help you start a business, manage day-to-day operations, look for opportunities to grow or adapt your business to meet new challenges, and support to apply for business licences, certificates, and permits. The Small Business Advisory also offers free and independent advice to help you grow your skills and make confident business decisions at every stage of your journey.

Professional advisors

Work out if you require the support of any professional advisors, such as an accountant, financial advisor, bookkeeper, solicitor, insurance company, or broker.

These professionals can assist you to financially manage your business, set up lease agreements or business contracts, and determine what insurance cover you require.

Technology and operations

A tech stack (or technology stack) is the set of software, tools, and technologies a business uses to operate. Early in your business journey, it is important to establish an integrated tech stack where systems work together to support operational efficiency.

Key components of a tech stack for visitor economy businesses typically include software for online bookings, customer relationship management (CRM), marketing emails, payments, accounting, and reporting. When these technologies are integrated, they help businesses work more efficiently and streamline automation.

Before investing in any new technology, consider whether it addresses a genuine business need, complements or integrates with your existing systems, and contributes to measurable outcomes. The goal is not to acquire more technology, but to build a cohesive digital ecosystem that supports your visitor experience, distribution strategy, operational efficiency and long-term growth.

For more information on online booking software, visit Sell.

For more information on visitor economy support, go to What is the Visitor Economy?

Outsourcing

Starting and running a business requires excellent time management skills. You will need to allocate both financial and human resources and decide who should perform the different tasks involved in running your business. You might like to think about how you could save potential time, money, and energy by outsourcing some of your tasks.

Tourism consultants have extensive local knowledge and offer a variety of skills and experience in product development, marketing, and operational management.

Before outsourcing any aspects of your business, ensure you have a budget in mind and a complete understanding of how you want the task completed.

Provide the company or contractor with a clear brief, guidelines around the requested task(s) and your expectations to manage their service delivery. For example, if you engage a professional web developer to build your website, brief them clearly with expected outcomes, deadlines, and final costings.

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