Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Tony Quarmby talks about initiatives to lure people to the NT over Summer

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Tony Quarmby talks about initiatives to lure people to the NT over Summer · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: It is just after nine point thirty, and I'd tell
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: you what, if you were quick yesterday, you may have
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: seen those incredibly well priced flights from other capital cities
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: into Darwin. They were available, as understand it on Webjet.
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: By the time I'd seen them last night, it seemed
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: as though all the cheap ones had already been sold.
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  Speaker 1: But the deals are all part of a major campaign
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  Speaker 1: which Tourism and T has got underway in an effort
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  Speaker 1: to get visitors to the Northern Territory over the summer period.
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  Speaker 1: Now joining me on the line is Tony Quimby, who
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  Speaker 1: is the executive director of Marketing with Tourism and t
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  Speaker 1: Good morning to you, Tony, Morning Katy. Now Tony, those
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  Speaker 1: flights yesterday seemed to go off. Did they all go
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  Speaker 1: pretty quickly?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah? They went quicker than a hot bread. They Yeah.
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  Speaker 2: We had a similar sale with the Red Center a
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  Speaker 2: few weeks prior to the top end sale with Webjet,
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  Speaker 2: and it took three days for the Red Cent to
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  Speaker 2: sell out. The top ends sold out in less than
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: a day and a half.
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  Speaker 1: It seemed like they went so fast. I went on
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  Speaker 1: there last night and I thought, oh, I just have
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  Speaker 1: a bit of a look, see if I can send
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  Speaker 1: some deals to my family into state. They were all
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  Speaker 1: they were all back to normal prices, I think, Tony.
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah. Unfortunately the sale fair is only last for
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: a short time, so the demand is just so great
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  Speaker 2: that they go so quick.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah. Do we have any idea on the numbers, like
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  Speaker 1: the number of flights that we had those discounted rates
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  Speaker 1: on and how many people may have purchased them.
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  Speaker 2: Well, Webjects has an allocation of sale fairs across all
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  Speaker 2: the different airlines on this campaign it was fifteen hundred.
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  Speaker 2: So we know that the trawl days will be from
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  Speaker 2: now until March because this is a summer focused campaign.
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  Speaker 2: Do we know at least fifteen hundred people have bought
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  Speaker 2: those sale fairs into the territory top end basically for
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  Speaker 2: some period.
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  Speaker 1: That is wonderful and we'll hopefully provide a real boost.
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  Speaker 1: I mean, we've had a very busy year, it seems
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  Speaker 1: when it comes to tourism, But how important is it
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: really to keep tourists coming over that summer period.
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  Speaker 2: It's vital. Businesses rely on the peak season to make
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  Speaker 2: sure they make as much money as they can to
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  Speaker 2: supply through the summer. When the visitation drops this year
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  Speaker 2: is especially important to make sure we've got Australians traveling
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  Speaker 2: in the summer because our international visitations still haven't returned
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: back to the normal levels. So to keep those businesses
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  Speaker 2: in operation, we need Australians traveling to the territory during
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: the summer this year.
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  Speaker 1: And it is part of a broader plan. And well,
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  Speaker 1: certainly the flights were part of a broader plan. What
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  Speaker 1: else have you got organized when it comes to trying
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  Speaker 1: to lure people here over that period, Well, we've.
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  Speaker 2: Got since about halfway through July, we started a national
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: campaign really raising awareness of the territory and why this
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: summer is a good time to travel. That media can
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: continue through into October. But underpinning that, we have what
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  Speaker 2: we call our cooperative campaigns with our travel partners, and
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  Speaker 2: that range is from the airlines through to online retailers
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  Speaker 2: and then the high street retailers as well. So we've
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  Speaker 2: got this in this instance it's Webjet, but we've got
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  Speaker 2: higher car companies breadths for example, we've got Holidays Australia
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  Speaker 2: through the nt now raining they've got deals there. We've
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  Speaker 2: also got other airlines coming on board with sales throughout
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  Speaker 2: the summer as well, so it's a really combined, integrated
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  Speaker 2: campaign focused on the summer months.
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  Speaker 1: And Tony, have things been any more difficult for you
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  Speaker 1: in terms of marketing the Northern Territory in recent months
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  Speaker 1: based on the fact that there has sort of been
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: some difficulties. I guess you might say with some flights.
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  Speaker 1: We know that the airlines in terms of coming back
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: on board or really getting back to full operation following COVID,
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  Speaker 1: there seems to have been more delays and more cancelations.
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: Has that made it more difficult for tourism and tea
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  Speaker 1: in any way?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, We've got two sides of tourigament, and you've got
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  Speaker 2: the supply side, so making sure that enough people within
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  Speaker 2: the industry supplying visitors when they get here, and that
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  Speaker 2: includes making sure airlines can come into the territory and
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  Speaker 2: we've got enough airlines and enough larger aircraft to service that.
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  Speaker 2: Then you've got the demand side, which is the marketing.
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  Speaker 2: Now we're marketing quite successfully nationally, but unless we get
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  Speaker 2: enough access in terms of enough airlines flying in enough
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  Speaker 2: size aircraft to service that demand, that's when you get
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  Speaker 2: the higher prices and then you get the you know, unfortunately,
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  Speaker 2: the backlog of people trying to get here either not
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  Speaker 2: being able to afford it or not being able to
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  Speaker 2: actually get into a hotel or an airset.
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  Speaker 1: And how from your perspective, you know, how are things
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  Speaker 1: going in the territory right now? I know that there's
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  Speaker 1: been a bit of difficulty into of the job shortages
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  Speaker 1: that we're experiencing right around the nation are realistically, but
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  Speaker 1: how are things going now from your perspective, Well.
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  Speaker 2: Obviously the workforce limits the amount of visitors we can
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  Speaker 2: cater for over this peak period. In terms of demand,
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  Speaker 2: we've had great demand for the territory. What we're tracking
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  Speaker 2: is there's still great demand moving forward even with higher
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  Speaker 2: prices that we've seen. So it's tracking really well from
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  Speaker 2: a demand perspective. We've just got to keep that going
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  Speaker 2: now into the summer and so it pushes into next
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  Speaker 2: year as far as possible.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, and Tony, when it comes to the top end,
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  Speaker 1: I know that there's so many places for us all
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  Speaker 1: to love, but are there any sort of particular hotspots
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  Speaker 1: that people really enjoy getting to when they do travel
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  Speaker 1: from into state.
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  Speaker 2: Well, what we have seen is a particular interest in
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  Speaker 2: getting more regional, so you know, Kakidu, for instance, has
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  Speaker 2: gone off off the radar in terms of visitation even
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  Speaker 2: greater than to and nineteen before the pandemic hit. The
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  Speaker 2: usual hot spots are very popular, but because drive has
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  Speaker 2: had such a massive growth since the pandemic, you're seeing
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  Speaker 2: places like Catherine Tennant Creek all the way up the track.
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  Speaker 2: People are stopping because they're driving into territory or wanting
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  Speaker 2: to get out to those regional areas well.
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  Speaker 1: That is wonderful to hear. And I know that last
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  Speaker 1: time you and I spoke, some people were texting through
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: and saying, oh, Katie, do you reckon. We're going to
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  Speaker 1: be able to get people to travel here in that
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: summer period. It's very hot, and it is hot, but
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  Speaker 1: there's so many wonderful lightning storms and all different sorts
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  Speaker 1: of things to experience. It are a little bit different
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  Speaker 1: over that period.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, and you've got to look from the east and
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  Speaker 2: south coast, they're having really cold, wet weather. Yes, it's
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  Speaker 2: going to be a bit hotter in the territory obviously,
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  Speaker 2: but you know it's something that they're prepared for, something
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  Speaker 2: that they actually want to experience to get away from
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  Speaker 2: the dreary weather down south. I don't think it's as
• 7:02
  Speaker 2: bad as what we make out it to be because
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  Speaker 2: of you know, we used to the build up and
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  Speaker 2: the really you know, the lead into the summer month.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah. Well, Tony Quanby, it's always good to catch up
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  Speaker 1: with you. I appreciate your time this morning. And it
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  Speaker 1: sounds as though those flights yesterday, well they were hot,
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  Speaker 1: they were too hot for some of us, not able
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  Speaker 1: to get our hands on any for our family Interstate.
• 7:27
  Speaker 2: Well, all I can say is just to keep your
• 7:29
  Speaker 2: eyes peeled for the next sale. We will work with
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  Speaker 2: the airline to try and get as many sales as
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  Speaker 2: the market as possible.
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: Good stuff, Good on You're Tony, lovely to speak to
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  Speaker 1: you this morning, you too, thank you. That is Tony
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  Speaker 1: Quanby there, who is indeed the executive director of marketing
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  Speaker 1: with Tourism NTE. And that number if you'd like to
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  Speaker 1: message through this morning zero for double nine seven, double
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  Speaker 1: one three six zero. Very keen to hear whether you
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  Speaker 1: were one of the fifteen hundred people who managed to
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  Speaker 1: get their hands on any of those flights. Maybe you've
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: got family coming to visit from Interstate and some of
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: them were really well priced, like I'm talking twenty dollars
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  Speaker 1: from Adelaide nineteen in fact. So if you want to
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  Speaker 1: send me a message, zero four double nine seven, double
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  Speaker 1: one three six zero up. Next though, the Lord Mayor
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: of Darwin convat Scalas