Product Development Mentoring Program

City of Newcastle is excited to announce Round 3 of the Product Development Mentoring Program, supporting tourism operators to create and scale bookable experiences.

Hosted in partnership with Optimised Consulting, this round focuses on distribution readiness and international appeal, aligning with the growth of leisure visitation and the return of international flights.

Expressions of interest are now open. Please complete the below application form by 5pm Friday 3 October, 2025.

Notes for Applicants

To help us best understand your business and tailor support through the Product Development Mentoring Program, we ask that you answer the following questions honestly and transparently.

If there are areas of your business that are underdeveloped, unclear, or facing challenges, please still submit your application. The purpose of this program is to help identify opportunities for growth and overcome barriers to becoming bookable and distribution ready. Even if you cannot answer every question fully, your submission is still valuable and will be considered.

Due to the nature of this program, events are exempt from this pilot program as they are not bookable year round.

Participants in Round 1 & 2 of the Product Development Mentoring Program are not eligible to apply for this round of the program.

Expression of interest form

This form should take one hour to complete, and consists of 40 questions designed to help us understand your business and product/experience.

Each answer should be a maximum of 200 words, unless otherwise stated.

1. Contact Name

2. Phone

3. Email

4. Role in business

5. Business Name

6. Business ABN

7. Business Phone

8. Business Address

9. Business Website

10. About your Business

11. Are you the business owner/key decision maker? If not, who in the business will be participating in the Program and what is their role? Do they have the authority to make decisions within your business?

12. If your business is volunteer-run or operated by a sole trader, how will you ensure program learnings are implemented?

13. Do you have access to decision-making authority or support to make changes in your business?

14. Have you previously participated in any business development or mentoring programs? If yes, what were the outcomes?

15. Do you currently have the time and resources to work on business development outside of day-to-day operations? Please describe:

16. What internal support (staff, volunteers, advisors) do you have to help implement changes from the program, and if you don’t have current capacity, do you have the ability to scale up?

17. What does success look like for your business in the next 12 months?

18. Where do you see the biggest challenges in your business currently?

19. Do you have a business plan that identifies growth opportunities? If no, is this something you would like assistance with?

20. Are you comfortable sharing financial performance data with your mentor to support business growth?

Yes No

Please note, this data will NOT be shared with City of Newcastle or other stakeholders.

21. What marketing channels do you currently use (e.g. social media, email, paid ads)?

22. Do you currently work with any online booking or distribution platforms? If yes, which ones?

23. What challenges have you faced in promoting or selling your experience online?

24. Do you currently use any data or metrics to gauge success of your marketing? If yes, please outline.

25. Business Facebook profile

26. Business Instagram Profile

27. Google Business Listing

28. Get Connected/ATDW listing

29. Does your business offer, or have the ability to offer, a Newcastle-based experience for visitors? Please describe.

30. Does your product or experience have the ability to be available to be booked on a regular basis across 12 months of the year? Please describe.

31. Who is your target customer, and how do you currently engage with them?

32. Have you received feedback from customers about your product or experience? If yes, what have you learned?

33. Do you have plans to develop or refine your product/experience in the next 6–12 months? Please describe.

34. Describe your knowledge and positioning with the tourism ecosystem, and your relationship with external stakeholders (e.g. DNSW, Tourism Australia, ATDW)?

35. How do you currently collaborate with other local tourism businesses/networks e.g. NTIG?

36. Are you open to collaborating with other businesses or City of Newcastle initiatives as part of this program?

37. Do you have any accreditations or memberships relevant to the Visitor Economy ecosystem?

Yes No

38. To be considered for the Newcastle Tourism Product Mentoring Program, your business must align with one or more of the destination experience pillars for Newcastle. How does your business align with one or more of our experience pillars?

39. What outcomes are you hoping to achieve from participating in this program?

40. This program will often times have you stepping out of your comfort zone to support you in growing your business. Are you comfortable with this?