Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Katie Woolf spoke with Tourism Central Australia CEO Danial Rochford

Transcript

Katie Woolf spoke with Tourism Central Australia CEO Danial Rochford · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Three sixty with Katie Wolf. Join the conversation with Katie Wolf.
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  Speaker 1: You are our eyes and ears in the territory mixed
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  Speaker 1: one oh four point nine.
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  Speaker 2: Well, did you have a crack at booking flights last
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  Speaker 2: night half priced flights or early this morning? I'm just
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  Speaker 2: on the jet Style website now I'll have a look
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  Speaker 2: at the quantus one shortly, not to actually book any
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  Speaker 2: but just to see whether this process is in fact
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  Speaker 2: easy or not. And and well whether you can just
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  Speaker 2: sort of find those half priced flights quite easily. But
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  Speaker 2: joining us on the line to talk a bit more
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  Speaker 2: about this and how we're going tourism wise. Firstly, Tourism
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  Speaker 2: Central Australia CEO Daniel Rochford. Good morning to you, Daniel.
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  Speaker 3: Good morning Katie, and good morning to you listeners.
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  Speaker 2: Daniel, how did things go well last night and also
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  Speaker 2: this morning with these half priced fares?
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  Speaker 1: Have you had much feedback?
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  Speaker 4: Look, certainly a lot of buzz out there are many
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  Speaker 4: of our operators here in Central Australia have been communicating
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  Speaker 4: out to the data saying that he's the opportunity to.
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  Speaker 3: Take advantage of coming to the Red Center. And yes,
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  Speaker 3: certainly a lot of buzz and.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, has it been as easy as what people
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  Speaker 2: were hoping? Yeah?
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  Speaker 3: Look, I honestly I went onto the Quantas website and
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  Speaker 3: I couldn't thought you think it was any easier than
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  Speaker 3: what it was. It was a great opportunity and it's
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  Speaker 3: just like booking a normal ticket there with the half
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  Speaker 3: price fair and you can easily book it.
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  Speaker 2: And so Daniel, just for us layman out there listening
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  Speaker 2: myself for example, you know when you jump on Jetstar
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  Speaker 2: or when you jump on on Quantas, does the half
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  Speaker 2: priced fair is that actually what comes up instantly or
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  Speaker 2: does it sort of take it away at the end.
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  Speaker 3: Of course, we don't have jet Star flights in our
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  Speaker 3: course out of Boolaroo. But I went on to the
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  Speaker 3: Quantas site just only half an hour ago, and there
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  Speaker 3: it was just like a ready deal that they have
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  Speaker 3: on a regular basis. It's promoted as a half price
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  Speaker 3: airfare and yeah, you know Alice Springs, it does traditionally
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  Speaker 3: does cost a little bit to fly in and out
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  Speaker 3: of Alice Springs. And you know they were the fair
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  Speaker 3: there one hundred and thirty five dollars to Melbourne, which
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  Speaker 3: for Alice is very cheap.
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  Speaker 2: Well, let's hope there are plenty of people take advantage
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  Speaker 2: of these flights and that we see really an influx
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  Speaker 2: of tourists.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah very much. Okaye. Look, I think the real critical
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  Speaker 3: thing here is we need to call on our government.
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  Speaker 3: So I think this has been a good program. It
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  Speaker 3: needs to probably be extended to really give to the
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  Speaker 3: tourism that shot in the end that we need. And
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  Speaker 3: I noticed many of our national tourism lobby groups have
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  Speaker 3: been calling out this morning for an extension of this
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  Speaker 3: program because the more we can get people traveling, the
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  Speaker 3: more willthy our tourism industry rebound out of this pandemic.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, that's exactly right.
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  Speaker 3: Now.
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  Speaker 2: How have things been going for you guys in se Australia,
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  Speaker 2: particularly with some of these hot spot declarations and border
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  Speaker 2: closures that we've seen as a result of the situation
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  Speaker 2: in Queensland.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, look, I've been very worried of course, as is
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  Speaker 3: the industry. A shiva went down our collective spines this
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  Speaker 3: week as that the hot spots started rolling out. We
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  Speaker 3: have seen cancelations through from southeast Queensland and northern New
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  Speaker 3: South Wales. That said, you know, there's some green buds
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  Speaker 3: of optimism Katie, in terms of forward bookings, but that
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  Speaker 3: will all disappear in a heartbeat if we start to
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  Speaker 3: see some rollouts, which is another reason why Katie, we
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  Speaker 3: need our federal government and our government, our state and
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  Speaker 3: territory governments to increase the pace of vaccinations. You know,
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  Speaker 3: we need to be rolling out the military here, as
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  Speaker 3: there's been the case in places like the UK. The
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  Speaker 3: quicker we get and get our nation vaccinated, the greatest
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  Speaker 3: certainty will have not only for the tourism industry, but
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  Speaker 3: for the wider general public.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, there's no doubt that it will make people feel
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  Speaker 2: I think a little bit more at ease with traveling
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  Speaker 2: as well. And Daniel, there's no doubt at the moment.
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  Speaker 2: I guess too that you know, some people are maybe
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  Speaker 2: you know, their fears have kind of changed to some degree.
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  Speaker 2: I guess where they're may be not quite as concerned
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  Speaker 2: about about COVID when they travel into state or you know,
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  Speaker 2: intra territory. But what they are concerned about is some
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  Speaker 2: of those hot spot declarations and how it may then
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  Speaker 2: impact them trying to get home.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, and look exactly right, is it absolutely destroys travel
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  Speaker 3: confidence any hot spot declaration? And look I understand the
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  Speaker 3: importance of keeping us safe. And you know, there's you know,
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  Speaker 3: we all understand what our governments are trying to do,
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  Speaker 3: but there is a downstream consequence of that, and that
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  Speaker 3: is manifests itself in terms of the challenges that our
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  Speaker 3: industry is facing right across the nation.
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  Speaker 2: What is the answer, I mean, is the answer the
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  Speaker 2: vaccine rollout happening faster? Or you know, do we need
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  Speaker 2: to sort of as a country relook at the way
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  Speaker 2: that we're managing COVID and those hotspot declarations.
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  Speaker 3: Oh? Look, I think most people are concerned and you
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  Speaker 3: know what I hear on the street here analysis people
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  Speaker 3: are concerned about the hot spots in terms of potentially
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  Speaker 3: coming into the Northern territory. I think we need to
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  Speaker 3: deal with the cause, not the symptom. Here, Katie, let's
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  Speaker 3: get this vaccine roll out supercharged. You know, it's not
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  Speaker 3: good enough to see the numbers that are being rolled
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  Speaker 3: out thus far. We need to really up the anti here.
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  Speaker 3: And you know, we're seeing it in other jurisdictions like
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  Speaker 3: the United Kingdom, where they are absolutely supercharging their roleout.
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  Speaker 3: We have one of the world's best mathem medical systems.
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  Speaker 3: We should be doing that as well, which we'll ensure
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  Speaker 3: that everyone gets vaccinated and we can go and travel
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  Speaker 3: with peace of mind.
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  Speaker 2: Now, can I just ask Daniel how things going in
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  Speaker 2: the lead into to Pajuma. Have you have we had
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  Speaker 2: lots of people booking to head to Central Australia.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, look one of the great as I said, some
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  Speaker 3: green buds of optimism and no better area around Pajma.
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  Speaker 3: And so we're seeing certainly some very strong bookings for
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  Speaker 3: both of those periods. Pajuma. The first weekend at Pagma
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  Speaker 3: is almost fully booked out here in our springs, and
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  Speaker 3: you know, that's so great to see after what has
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  Speaker 3: been a difficult year for us all certainly think as
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  Speaker 3: we as you may know, is fully booked out, and
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  Speaker 3: you know we're putting groups in scout halls at the
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  Speaker 3: moment to accommodate everyone. Look where we're so excited about
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  Speaker 3: the opportunities this season has. Certainly the feedback from operators
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  Speaker 3: is there's again there's that green bud of optimism coming
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  Speaker 3: back into our industry.
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  Speaker 1: Oh well, I'm pleased to hear that.
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  Speaker 2: And look, I think we're all hoping that things live
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  Speaker 2: it up, you know, and that we have lots of well,
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  Speaker 2: whether they're interstate tourists or interstate tourists. So we're all
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  Speaker 2: hoping that we can keep the tourism industry kicking along
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  Speaker 2: and hopefully, you know, try to make up for that
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  Speaker 2: lack of international tourists able to visit.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah.
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  Speaker 3: Absolutely, and look, yeah, certainly there's everyone's got every fingers
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  Speaker 3: crossed and everything crossed for what will be a good
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  Speaker 3: twenty twenty one. Will be some launching a number of
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  Speaker 3: national marketing campaigns to encourage people to come to the
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  Speaker 3: Red Center and you know, the opportunity is there.
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  Speaker 2: Well. Daniel Rochford, the CEO of Tourism Central Australia, good
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  Speaker 2: to catch up with you.
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  Speaker 1: Thanks for your time.