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Katie Woolf spoke with Hospitality NT CEO Alex Bruce · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Hello, Katie wall Van three point sixty online at Mix
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: one O four nine dot com.
• 0:05
  Speaker 2: You well, as we know, just before lunchtime yesterday we
• 0:09
  Speaker 2: are now we headed into a forty eight hour lockdown
• 0:12
  Speaker 2: and many people went into it in a bit of
• 0:14
  Speaker 2: a panic, rushing to the shopping centers in the thousands,
• 0:18
  Speaker 2: well the supermarkets in the thousands, but many businesses really
• 0:21
  Speaker 2: weren't sure if they could stay open or what the
• 0:23
  Speaker 2: lockdown meant for them. Now joining me on the line
• 0:26
  Speaker 2: is the CEO of Hospitality NT Alex Bruce. Good morning
• 0:30
  Speaker 2: to you, Alex, Good morning Katie Alex. What was the
• 0:33
  Speaker 2: reaction yesterday when that snap lockdown was called?
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: Ah, look, probably not dis similar to the community, a
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: bit of trepidation. There was probably a view in the
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: back of some people's head that you know, this may
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: happen at some point to us, how long could we
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: enjoy the freedom and the life that were deprived so
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: many other fellow Australians. So look, it was straight away
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: to hunt for information. Okay, this has happened, We're going
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: to comply. We support you know, Chiefelf obviously Hughheggy and
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: his team, so they're telling us we need to do this.
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: They're telling us we need to do it for forty
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: eight hours, then just all of the questions in the
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: detail then bubble to the top. So just a bit
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: of a fight for information yesterday afternoon and into the
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: night last night.
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I reckon so, and I'm assuming that there was
• 1:25
  Speaker 2: quite a number of cancelations from people expected to be
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: arriving into the territory.
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: Yes, they're starting to happen more so, you know, as
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: quickly as it was. There's a lot of tourists in
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: the hotels around Darland right now. They might not have
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: necessarily left, They've just paused while they reconsider there are
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: their own plans and you know, wa and Sabbath tray
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: of stopped them from returning, or they might be able
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: to get in. So we think they're still here for
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: the next day or more depending on other announcements player today.
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: But we're already knowing that this is going to have
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: a longer term impact. I've been talking to learn English
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: from Tsan top end this morning and unfortunately we're starting
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: to see that drop off now. So the two real
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: pertin questions I suppose for us is how long will
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: this go on for? But also what will be the
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: impact in what was by all accounts going to be
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: a something good year for us.
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: Yeah, this is the thing we were anticipating that we
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: were going to be going into well a bump a
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: few weeks of school holidays as well.
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: That's it. And so again we really don't know, and
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: we're looking to see what midday announcement happens today about
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: how far we are and how long we go along.
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: We're working with the government on their support payment. That
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: thousand dollars the threshold at the moment now it's only
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: for businesses up up to twenty fte We've already made
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: a representation that we might need to look at that
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: we hope that we don't and that you know, by
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: mid day today, we're counting down the clock till we
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: can all reopen. Then our discussions will pivot to how
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: you reopen and if there's any additional requirements. Again, we're
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: already continuing to ramp up our messaging to the public. Please,
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: even if you're visiting our venues that are doing takeaway,
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: check in on the door, is there picking up your
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: coffee or whatever?
• 3:19
  Speaker 3: Yeah, so true.
• 3:22
  Speaker 2: In terms of the number of tourists that we've currently
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: got here that is sort of in lockdown now. Do
• 3:28
  Speaker 2: we have any idea of how many people we do
• 3:30
  Speaker 2: have here at the moment?
• 3:33
  Speaker 3: Well, it was quite positive, you know, like we'd lost
• 3:36
  Speaker 3: some bookings as we discussed on Friday with Sydney going
• 3:40
  Speaker 3: off the rails, but occupancy was still quite high and
• 3:43
  Speaker 3: we were on track all through the Melbourne most recent lockdown.
• 3:48
  Speaker 3: We were still getting occupancy higher than the same period
• 3:52
  Speaker 3: in twenty nineteen, excepting that, you know, twenty nineteen wasn't
• 3:56
  Speaker 3: a flash year, but we were still having quite a
• 3:58
  Speaker 3: positive season.
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: So they are they're not shockers, but there's quite a
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: high content of people in lockdown limbo right now.
• 4:05
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and do we have any idea of how many
• 4:08
  Speaker 2: cancelations we've had at this point?
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: It's rolling in now, so I'll need to take another
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: sense of it. And again it's just so dependent on
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: is this a two day or a two week exercise
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: we're talking about, because the numbers are just going to
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: magnify unfortunately if it goes that way.
• 4:28
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and then when we look at Territory Day, you know,
• 4:31
  Speaker 2: we're due to going to Territory Day on Thursday, all
• 4:34
  Speaker 2: hoping that that's still going to be able to happen.
• 4:36
  Speaker 2: But I guess today's a really critical time and that
• 4:39
  Speaker 2: information that comes out following this SIMPSI meeting that's underway
• 4:42
  Speaker 2: right now is really going to be critical.
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: That's it. And there was a bit of a confusion
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: and frustration in our industry when the announcements were made.
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: You know, people that are switched on online Facebook watching
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  Speaker 1: the chief press conference definitely did sound like it was
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: the three local government areas of Darwin, Palmerston and Litchfield
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: that prompted people in Woggi Beach and Dundee Beach just
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: not necessarily believed that they may be captured. And it
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: wasn't until the show directions that went on on a
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: website at about three o'clock allegedly signed at twelve fifty
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: seven and coming into fourth at one o'clock made it
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: clear that it was those other outlying areas. All the
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: way through to Dundee, it was hard to get information
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: about Bachelor. We were hearing that on the highways there
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: were some you know, police border impromptu kind of crossings
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: and they were prohibiting people even when the advice was
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: if you were returning to your house to go into
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: the lockdown you could, so you know, this all came
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: about at lightning speed. We understand why that probably happened
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: that way, but it just you saw the panic buying
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: and things that occurred. There's a view that you know,
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: even if the government had given everyone nine hours though
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: before or entering lockdown, you probably would have seen some
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: of that behavior in any event. But you know, the
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: official government release I received twelve thirty two for all
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: one o'clock lockdown. If we were to do this again,
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: we would be asking for the scenario planning that we're
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: told is meant to be quite good to factor in
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: more time for businesses and the community than twenty eight minutes.
• 6:24
  Speaker 2: Well, I think you're spot on, But I also think
• 6:26
  Speaker 2: you're spot on with the communication. We've got to make
• 6:28
  Speaker 2: sure that that communication is going through the official channels
• 6:30
  Speaker 2: as well. Obviously the press conference happening, but that information
• 6:34
  Speaker 2: to follow through so that you know, whether you're in
• 6:36
  Speaker 2: the media, whether you're in the hospitality business, whether you're
• 6:39
  Speaker 2: in the tourism sector, that we all have the correct
• 6:42
  Speaker 2: information and everybody knows what they should and shouldn't be doing.
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: That's it. But I know that there are a lot
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: of people in government and police and health that you know,
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: they worked incredibly hard over the weekend and they'll continue
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: into this week. Well, they try to manage it all
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: on our behalf. Look, as I said, we do support it.
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: We are part of a community. We understand why this
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: is happening, and we'll play our part and we ask
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: customers to comply with all the rules as well if
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: and when we reopen just.
• 7:12
  Speaker 2: Very quickly, Alex, our understanding is that there are obviously
• 7:15
  Speaker 2: still locations that can operate at the moment with takeaways.
• 7:19
  Speaker 2: That's your understanding also, absolutely.
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: And that was one that was made quite clear as
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: soon as the announcement was made. So that allowed restaurants
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: that have always maintained that takeaway ability, you know with
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: their delivery drivers or their Uber drivers and their online
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: ordering apps. Some of the pubs do take away food
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: through their attached to bottle shops and have done pre COVID,
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: so all of that continued. Restaurants that had stopped doing takeaway,
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: or pubs that never really played in that space, they
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: probably weren't online as much last night and they've just
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: hit the pause button. But again, if this auty eight
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: hours becomes longer, you'll see a desire for more venues
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: to sell takeaway where they can to run down their
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: stock again at a minimum.
• 8:10
  Speaker 2: Well, Alex Bruce Hospitality TCEEO, we really appreciate your time
• 8:15
  Speaker 2: this morning. Thanks for chatting with us great thank you,