Tourism
OPERATOR PORTAL
Welcome to Experience Somerset’s tourism operator portal. We hope the information in this portal will provide assistance to your Somerset tourism business.
Download the Somerset Operator Toolkit
Download the Somerset Event Organiser Toolkit
Here’s just a few of the ways we can help you promote your business:
- Somerset tourism operators can display professionally printed DL sized brochures at our two accredited Visitor Information Centres at Fernvale and Kilcoy and unaccredited information centre in Esk at no cost.
- Assistance to create your free listing on the Australian Tourism Data Warehouse (ATDW). ATDW is Australia’s largest tourism network, jointly owned and managed by all Australian state and territory government tourism bodies.
- All businesses listed on ATDW are automatically considered for inclusion in the Best of Queensland Experiences Program run by Tourism and Events Queensland. Additional criteria is required for the Best of Queensland Experience program, which can be found here.
- Opportunities to participate in training programs throughout the year.
- Assistance to create a free listing on Somerset’s SEQ Food Trails website for eligible food and drink businesses.
- The opportunity to attend up to three tourism trade shows each year with the tourism team to promote your business and the Somerset region (e.g. Queensland Caravan and Camping Supershow and Queensland Outdoor Adventure and Motoring Expo).
- Social media promotion.
- The opportunity to participate in familarisation tours throughout the year which allow our volunteers the opportunity to experience Somerset’s tourism operators first hand and share this with the visitors they engage with on a daily basis across our Visitor Information Centres. It is a great way for you to connect with the volunteers who are promoting your product to visitors.
Get in touch
Feel free to contact Council’s tourism team if you require assistance or information or would like to organise a meeting to discuss further how we can help you promote your Somerset tourism business:
Join us on social media
Please take a moment to follow our core council brands on Facebook and Instagram.
Make sure to use, and encourage visitors to use, the hashtags #experiencesomerset and #somersetqld so we can easily see and share posts to promote your businesses.
Download our Experience Somerset social media poster here
Resources
Download and use a range of Experience Somerset images. We encourage you to access, download and utilise these images, to promote Somerset in a positive manner. Ensure you credit Experience Somerset with each use.
You can use these resources provided you abide by the Terms of Use.
The tourism team update the Experience Somerset Visitors Guide every two years and are in the process of developing the 2026-2027 edition.
Find the current advertising prospectus here.
Bookings close at 5pm Friday, 20 February 2026.
Return your completed form to the tourism team if you would like to purchase advertising.
This Tourism Marketing Action Plan aims to build upon that strategy and provide a series of more specific, realistic and actionable tactics that can be delivered to bolster and grow tourism within the region.
List your business or event on ATDW, Australia’s national digital platform of tourism information to promote your business on up to 200 websites for FREE
Queensland Country Tourism is the peak tourism industry body for Southern Queensland Country, bringing together the regions of Toowoomba, Lockyer Valley, Southern Downs and Granite Belt, Goondiwindi, Somerset and the Western Downs.
The 2020 and 2024 Brisbane Valley Rail Trail Visitor Research conducted by The University of Queensland in conjunction with Department of Transport and Main Roads and Somerset Regional Council offers a summary of visitor trends.
Register here for the Quality Tourism Framework. This online system which captures existing business development programs (Tourism Accreditation, Star Ratings and Australian Tourism Awards) in the one place
The Queensland Tourism Industry Council (QTIC) is a not-for-profit, private sector, membership-based organisation representing the interests of Queensland’s tourism and hospitality industry.
Tourism Australia offers a range of useful resources including:
Stay up to date with the latest Experience Somerset News:
Austrade has a how-to guide to help Australian tourism businesses become more sustainable.
Sustainability is essential to the future success of every tourism business. Being sustainable can benefit businesses in the visitor economy by:
- reducing costs and improving profitability
- protecting Australia’s natural and cultural assets by reducing carbon emissions
- making businesses more resilient as they adapt to climate change
- improving reputation and relationships with customers, staff, local communities and suppliers.
The Sustainable Tourism Toolkit has clear and simple advice to help tourism businesses become more sustainable. Nationally agreed, it is applicable for small to medium-sized tourism businesses across Australia.
Workshop 1:
How to Make Your Tourism Business More Visible: Low-Cost Marketing Tactics for Operators
Webinar Recording (password: Somerset)
Workshop 2:
Social Media Basics
Webinar Recording (password: Somerset)
Canva Basics for Business
Webinar Recording (password: Somerset)
This hands-on workshop guided participants through the key components of developing a successful tourism destination by focusing on improving the
customer journey, fostering collaborations, and ensuring sustainability and accessibility for all.
Somerset Tourism Development Workshop Program
Complementary Webinars and resources:
Who we want to visit our region
Understanding your visitors journey and marketing
Worksheet 3- Where to list your business online
Partnerships – who can help my business
Worksheet 4 – How to sign up for industry newsletters
Business Planning Fundamentals
Worksheet 5 – Simple Business Plan Template
Worksheet 6 – Risk Management Plan template
Free 5×5 Risk Matrix Template | PDF | SafetyCulture
Tourism and Events Queensland Experience Development modules and worksheets
Somerset Regional Council sought Expressions of Interest (closed 1 May 2025) from Agricultural Businesses looking to diversify into Agritourism.
The FREE program was delivered by agritourism specialists, Linda Tillman and Kushla Gale of Tilma Group.
At the end of the program, mentees had designed an agritourism business concept and be ready to progress it to the next stage.
Program Resources:
Modules will be added shortly.
Module 1: Understanding Agritourism
Module 2: What types of Agritourism are permitted on my farm
Module 3: How to develop an Agritourism experience
Module 4: Risk Management and Safety
Module 5: Marketing your Agritourism experience
Worksheets:
Worksheet: Agritourism Business Development Case
Worksheet: Agritourism Bench marking
Worksheet: Customer Journey Mapping
Worksheet: Financial Scenario Planning
Worksheet: Risk Management Plan Template
Agritourism is a growing trend within the wider tourism industry in which visitors are looking for more authentic experiences that offer connection to each other and the area that they are visiting. Australian Regional Tourism defines Agritourism as: a type of experiential travel which connects people to product or produce, delivered on farming land through a direct “on farm” experience. |
The Rail Trails and Tourism Conference was held in Esk at the Somerset Civic Centre on 6-7 November 2024.
Presentations from the two-day event can be accessed below.
Day 1:
Setting the Scene – Alton Twine, CEO Bicycle Queensland
BVRT Visitor Research – Professor David Solnet and Professor Pierre Benckendorff of University Queensland
Regional Tourism – Peter Homan, CEO Queensland Country Tourism
Designing Visitor Experiences – Linda Tillman, Managing Director of Tilma Group Consultancy
Cycle Tourism – Dr Richard Buning, University of Queensland and Director of Bicycle Queensland
Day 2:
Welcome – Alton Twine, CEO Bicycle Queensland
You Need a Vision – Desley O’Grady, President of Boyne Burnett Inland Rail Trail (BBIRT)
Securing a Corridor – Craig England, Manager (Rail Trail Corridor Management) of Department of Transport and Main Roads (TMR)
Planning – Iain Lonsdale, Acting Manager, Building and Environmental Health, Tweed Shire Council
Politics and Staged Development – Paul Heymans, Patron of Brisbane Valley Rail Trail Users Association (BVRTUA)
Models of Operation – Rowan Lamont at Blue Sky Trails, and Andrew Demack, Director of Advocacy at Bicycle Queensland
Trail Marketing and Events – Tiffany Stoddart, Manager Destination, Communication and Customer Experience Tweed Shire Council, and Mike Blewitt, BQ
Workshop – Andrew Demack, Director of Advocacy at Bicycle Queensland
Close – Alton Twine, CEO Bicycle Queensland
Keep up to date with Council and industry updates sent out regularly.
Register here to be included on the Somerset Tourism Database.