Mareeba Shire Business Resilience & Digital Capability Program 2025

November 2025 – March 2026

Helping Local Businesses Thrive and Build a Strong Future

Program Overview

The Mareeba Shire Council has partnered with Tourism Tribe to offer this fully funded Mareeba Shire Business Resilience & Digital Capability Program to assist tourism, hospitality, food & beverage or small businesses in Mareeba Shire to build their business’s resilience to disasters and economic shocks.

Jointly funded by the Australian and Queensland governments under the Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements, this free program will assist 25 businesses to work towards greater disaster resilience and growth through digital upskilling.

Program Highlights

Initial Workshops in Kuranda & Mareeba

Face-to-face, practical workshops covering:

Disaster resilience and business preparedness
Effective communication planning for emergencies
Leveraging Google, social media, ATDW, and online reviews
Online reputation management & customer trust
Digital tools every business must have

Digital Engagement Health Check™

25 lucky participants will also receive a full Digital Engagement Health Check™ of your online assets, including your business website, Google Business Profile listing, Facebook and Instagram accounts. Each of these businesses will receive an assessment report with their results.

One-on-One Digital Health Check & Mentoring

These same 25 participants will have access to one two-hour online coaching session where a digital strategist will walk you through recommendations relevant to your business.

Personalised support to benchmark your digital assets, identify “quick wins” and get guidance for your business—no tech skills required!
Help setting up your Google Business Profile, ATDW listing, and more

Tourism Tribe Course Library

You’ll have six months access to all the perks of being a full Tourism Tribe Digital Assistance Member including the extensive Tourism Tribe online course library to help you to improve your knowledge and digital skills. Use these courses as support as you implement the recommendations listed in your Digital Engagement Health Check™ report and develop a crisis communication management plan.

Tourism Tech Sessions

Twice per month you will also be able to attend an online tourism tech session where Tourism Tribe experts will teach you about cutting edge tourism tech. During these sessions you’ll also have the opportunity to discuss your challenges, get support, and hear from other operators around Australia about their experiences in developing their online presence and digital marketing strategies. These sessions are scheduled every 2nd Thursday of the month at 10am and 4th Tuesday of the month at 12pm. Once logged in you can find the registration page from the top navigation menu.

Follow-Up Workshops

Follow up workshops will be run in both Kuranda and Mareeba to share progress, challenges and learnings. These workshops will be available to all businesses within the Mareeba Shire.

The second workshop, “Adapting your business for the the 2026 AI-driven marketplace” will cover:

Relevant marketing channels for your businesses
What the visitor is seeing and how you can put your best offers forward
How to make the most of your social media efforts in the AI marketplace
The power of a communal voice and collaboration in your business community

Privacy notice
Any information collected by Tourism Tribe on behalf of Mareeba Shire Council about you and your business will be used solely for the Mareeba Shire Business Resilience & Digital Capability Program. If your application to be part of the program is unsuccessful, all information collected will be destroyed.

Program Dates

Participants confirm their participation within the program & receive Tourism Tribe login details
- Course library access starts
- Access to fortnightly tourism tech sessions starts
Kuranda Workshop: Monday, 24 November 2025
Kuranda Community Centre (above Kuranda Library), 9am – 1pm
Mareeba Workshop: Tuesday, 25 November 2025
Mareeba Shire Library Tech Room, 9am – 1pm
Before COB 1 Dec: Interested participants register for coaching & Digital Engagement Health Check ™
Introductory online workshop: 8 Dec 10am (Zoom)
Mid-Dec: participants receive Digital Engagement Health Check ™ reports
5 January-13 March: complete one-on-one online coaching session
13 March: all coaching sessions completed, library and tech session access ends
16 March: Kuranda Follow up Workshop: 9am – 1pm including networking lunch at the Kuranda Community Centre (above Kuranda Library)
17 March: Mareeba Follow up Workshop: 9am – 1pm including networking lunch at the Cedric Davies Hub beside the Mareeba Library
30 June: Tech support sessions and library access ends

What's included

Digital Engagement Health Check
2 one on one coaching sessions
2 workshops
Access to the online course library
Fortnightly coaching calls

Liz Ward

Liz is the co-founder of Tourism Tribe and a recognised expert in business strategy and digital transformation, with over 25 years' experience across large and small businesses. Today, she is focused on helping tourism operators understand how AI is reshaping marketing, from automating repetitive tasks to using AI-driven insights to find the right customers at the right time.

As a coach, Liz brings big-picture thinking to every conversation. She helps operators map their objectives, identify their ideal customers, and spot opportunities where AI and smart digital strategy can give them an edge. She is highly sought after as a presenter, mentor and workshop trainer.

Tourism Tribe launched in 2015 and now supports over 1,600 tourism operators across Australia and the world. It was recognised in the Queensland Tourism Industry Innovation Awards (2016) and the UNWTO Innovation Awards (2015).

Liz is also Managing Director of Digital Coaching International, a network of specialists who guide businesses through digital and AI transformation of their marketing and operations.

Liz is a Fellow of both the Australian Institute of Company Directors and Australian Institute of Management. She has served on several boards, including Tourism and Events Queensland and Women Chiefs of Enterprise, Australia.

Can I access the training at my own pace?

Absolutely. All our self-paced courses are available online anytime, so you can learn when it suits you – even during your quiet season or in between guests. You can ask a question at any time at the bottom of each lesson and we’ll get back to you super quick!

Are there live sessions or just recorded content?

We offer both! Join our live webinars and group tourism tech coaching sessions, or check out the recorded content at your convenience.