Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Katie Woolf spoke with Tourism Top End General Manager Glen Hindley following the announcement of tourism voucher

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Katie Woolf spoke with Tourism Top End General Manager Glen Hindley following the announcement of tourism voucher · 360 with Katie Woolf

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  Speaker 1: Now, if you're listening to the show on Friday, you
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  Speaker 1: certainly would have heard that discussion that we've had with
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  Speaker 1: well with one of our listeners, Rob who is also
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  Speaker 1: a tourism operator, who spoke about the real hardship that
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  Speaker 1: a lot of our tourism operators are going through at
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  Speaker 1: the moment. It's something that we've discussed on numerous occasions
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  Speaker 1: with the general manager of Tourism top End, Glenn Hingley,
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  Speaker 1: and he joins me on the line right now. Good
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  Speaker 1: morning to you, Glenn.
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  Speaker 2: Good morning Katie, Good morning listeners.
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  Speaker 1: Now Glenn All, like I mentioned on Friday, we caught
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  Speaker 1: up with a wonderful territory in Rob who really spoke
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  Speaker 1: of the hardship that so many of our tourism operators
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  Speaker 1: are facing at the moment. In what is hopefully some
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  Speaker 1: good news. A bit further detail has rolled out this
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  Speaker 1: morning about the next round of tourism vouchers. October four
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  Speaker 1: is the date, by the look of it.
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  Speaker 2: October before is the date, and this is to support
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  Speaker 2: businesses like Rob Woods, like Ethical Adventures. Businesses are epitomize
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  Speaker 2: that top end experience, give people these insights that you
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  Speaker 2: wouldn't see driving around on your own that you wouldn't
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  Speaker 2: get to understand the cultural and also the conservational aspects
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  Speaker 2: of our great region. And so vouchers coming back online
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  Speaker 2: give Territorians that opportunity. I know the tourism industry have.
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  Speaker 2: There's been a collective sigh of relief to hear this
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  Speaker 2: announcement come out today, because not only is this an
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  Speaker 2: awesome stimulus package, it's proven to have worked before it
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  Speaker 2: help help keep Territorians employed and without with all the lockdown,
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  Speaker 2: because the lockdown and Sydney Melbourne has been a lockdown
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  Speaker 2: on our tourism industry for July and August now, and
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  Speaker 2: so many are worrying about what do they do with
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  Speaker 2: their staff forward rosters, how do they deal with their
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  Speaker 2: own fixed expenses every month? Many local territori and businesses
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  Speaker 2: have their homes mortgage to their businesses, and so having
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  Speaker 2: the opportunity for and some incentive for Territorians to get
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  Speaker 2: out and travel around the territory again is awesome.
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  Speaker 1: And so round four is going to be five million
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  Speaker 1: dollars as I understand it. Those vouchers obviously two hundred
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  Speaker 1: dollars for those vouchers, unless, of course, you're traveling more
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  Speaker 1: than four hundred k's one way and then you'll get
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  Speaker 1: an additional two hundred Is that right?
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  Speaker 2: Yes, So that's the same program rules that applied in
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  Speaker 2: round two and three, which I mean. The great thing
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  Speaker 2: about the four hundred k it encourages territories to go
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  Speaker 2: that little bit further. Not just pick up a Dalwin
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  Speaker 2: staycation or get over to Dundee or down to Lichfield,
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  Speaker 2: but get over to East Arnham places like Banu Banu
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  Speaker 2: Eco Resort. What a great place to get out, and
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  Speaker 2: I know that they've got some delightful not just an accommodation,
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  Speaker 2: but the secluded little island sitting off the coast of
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  Speaker 2: nullum Boy. Or get down to Grout or get further
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  Speaker 2: down the Stuart Highway. There's some really awesome packages that
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  Speaker 2: will shortly become and available. And of course there's the favorites.
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  Speaker 2: You know, there is a there's of course Kakadu, like
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  Speaker 2: I said, Darwin's staycations, getting it around Dundee and Lichfield.
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  Speaker 2: And for those who want to travel further south, get
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  Speaker 2: down to Alie Spring, get down to your Lara. This
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  Speaker 2: is an opportunity for territorians to have that choice where
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  Speaker 2: they want to go. With their vouchers. And the great
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  Speaker 2: thing about this five million dollars, Katie, is from a
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  Speaker 2: government stimulus campaign. That five million dollars instantly becomes ten
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  Speaker 2: million dollars because it's dollar for dollar match. So when
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  Speaker 2: you travel your first two hundred dollars, when you book
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  Speaker 2: these packages, you spend the first two hundred dollars and
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  Speaker 2: the government matches that, so it's a four hundred dollars
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  Speaker 2: minimum spend if you want to use the full two
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  Speaker 2: hundred dollars, and then of course if you're going that
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  Speaker 2: extra distance. So from a government investment perspective, this is
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  Speaker 2: a cracking program because it's taking public money and matching
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  Speaker 2: it with territorians, which is great in keeping so many
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  Speaker 2: of our territory and businesses operating and having this certainty. Now,
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  Speaker 2: this is a great day.
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  Speaker 1: I mean, Glenn, some out there listening we'll be thinking, oh,
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  Speaker 1: it's just a band aid at this point, you know,
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  Speaker 1: we really need to get those borders back open. We
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  Speaker 1: need to get Aussie's traveling back around the country again.
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  Speaker 1: I've no doubt that there's plenty in the tourism sector
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  Speaker 1: of feeling that way, but it does seem as though
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  Speaker 1: we're still a little way away from being there, it
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  Speaker 1: doesn't it.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, Well, we've got to put territory in the health
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  Speaker 2: of territory in the first All ways, we know that
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  Speaker 2: vaccinations is the light at the end of the tunnel,
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  Speaker 2: and we know that we're not there through government decisions.
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  Speaker 2: Government decisions to do the best they can and sometimes
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  Speaker 2: have missed opportunities that seem to have happened around Australia.
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  Speaker 2: So we know that Sydney and Melbourne can't come and
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  Speaker 2: fairly holiday here because they are in lockdown. And for
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  Speaker 2: the tourist which we in twenty nineteen depended on two
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  Speaker 2: point four billion dollars we got from tourism into the
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  Speaker 2: territory economy. That's how important we're number one, We're sorry,
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  Speaker 2: number one consume sorry, service industry, number four in terms
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  Speaker 2: of contribution to the territory economy. We employ one in
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  Speaker 2: eight territorians and so it's been a dark time. And
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  Speaker 2: if not for the supported territorians, so many local businesses
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  Speaker 2: would be out of business or doing it tough. And
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  Speaker 2: it's businesses like Rob's business last week. I really encourage
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  Speaker 2: territories so you know, the get online, the information will
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  Speaker 2: be coming out shortly work out your schedule to get
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  Speaker 2: your vouchers because last year, last time, remember around three
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  Speaker 2: they went in three and a half minutes. That's how
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  Speaker 2: popular these are.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, they are, They're so incredibly popular. I mean, Glenn,
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  Speaker 1: I know that you speak regularly, you know, daily, I
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  Speaker 1: would anticipate, if not every few hours, hours to tourism
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  Speaker 1: operators who are doing it tough at the moment. And
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  Speaker 1: you know, I think it was a real, you know,
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  Speaker 1: a really important thing for us and for a lot
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  Speaker 1: of our listeners to hear on Friday from from Rob
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  Speaker 1: who called through and really sort of made it hit
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  Speaker 1: home for so many of us just how tough some
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  Speaker 1: of our business operators are finding things.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I spoke to Rob again on Saturday, as I've
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  Speaker 2: spoken to a few other tour operators over the weekend
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  Speaker 2: because with Friday's announcement of the additional Commonwealth match funding,
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  Speaker 2: anyone who's not in business or in the tourism business,
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  Speaker 2: when you have invested your family's life savings in that
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  Speaker 2: you have fixed costs. You have to pay your mortgage
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  Speaker 2: for your house, your family's income, but then you've got
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  Speaker 2: the cost of your vehicle leases, the licenses that go
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  Speaker 2: without the insurances all of this, No one's giving you
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  Speaker 2: a break. The banks aren't saying, oh you know it's
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  Speaker 2: aka rob, you don't have to keep you will wait
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  Speaker 2: until you get a customer coming back from Sydney Melbourne.
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  Speaker 2: You don't have to pay your rent, you don't have
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  Speaker 2: to pay your insurance. Those bills are still coming in.
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  Speaker 2: And on top of that, he's invested a lot of
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  Speaker 2: money training and in staff for like family and the
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  Speaker 2: tourism industry, and to let them go is like, it's
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  Speaker 2: just unthinkable, and we need to keep people in jobs,
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  Speaker 2: we need to keep our economy going. And so without
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  Speaker 2: the support that can go to these businesses to pay
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  Speaker 2: these fixed costs, no one in tourism in sector, or
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  Speaker 2: hospitality or any retail nobody's looking for sorry money. Nobody's
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  Speaker 2: looking for oh here were sorry, you didn't get the
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  Speaker 2: profits that you thought you might get. We're talking about
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  Speaker 2: fixed costs. We're talking about that which no one's giving
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  Speaker 2: a relief on it. And this time last year that
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  Speaker 2: relief was coming through, that banks were giving a moratorium
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  Speaker 2: on repayments, that there was small business survival grants, you
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  Speaker 2: were able to get a business hard ship certific and
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  Speaker 2: get fifty percent off your electricity costs. None of that's
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  Speaker 2: employee this year. Your businesses are on their own. And
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  Speaker 2: you know, I don't like to say it, but I
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  Speaker 2: feel that government now expects small business to be the
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  Speaker 2: credit card of this pandemic. And until we can get
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  Speaker 2: vaccinations to the level that all Territorians are safe, that's
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  Speaker 2: the magic moment where we can say, Okay, we can
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  Speaker 2: now start to move. Now. We understand it will have
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  Speaker 2: an impact on many people still having to be hospitalized,
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  Speaker 2: but we've got to move towards it and hopefully we
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  Speaker 2: can get there. And in the meantime, the other thing
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  Speaker 2: which keeps Territorians in jobs and businesses is checking in
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  Speaker 2: using that craly. Please check in? Yeah, easy, Glenn.
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  Speaker 1: I am going to have to wrap up, but can
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  Speaker 1: I just us very quickly? I mean, obviously so many
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  Speaker 1: of us are trying to do the right thing. We're
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  Speaker 1: trying to check in, we're trying to wear our masks,
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  Speaker 1: we're social distancing right around Australia. I mean, how does
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  Speaker 1: it sort of make you feel then when you see
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  Speaker 1: on the news all of those Australians involved in those
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  Speaker 1: freedom rallies on the weekend, even here in Darwin, and
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  Speaker 1: you know the thought of the setback. I guess that
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  Speaker 1: we could see if you know, if if some of
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  Speaker 1: those into state turned into super spreader events, it must
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  Speaker 1: be pretty frustrating.
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  Speaker 2: If anyone's seen the pain and the agony someone goes through,
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  Speaker 2: who is fighting COVID and gasping for their last bit
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  Speaker 2: of life. I think the freedoms that we still have
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  Speaker 2: are far greater than someone end up in great pain
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  Speaker 2: and trouble. And we only have to look at very
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  Speaker 2: nearest neighbors Indonesia what it means when government aren't there
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  Speaker 2: to support a community. Yes, there are some things that
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  Speaker 2: we have to understand, and that is wearing a mask.
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  Speaker 2: Sure it feels like a break on my liberty, but
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  Speaker 2: I'll tell you what, losing loved ones is a much
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  Speaker 2: further cost to my personal freedoms than my personal freedom.
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  Speaker 2: So I'm confused. I'm frustrated as to why people can't
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  Speaker 2: see that this is a real threat not just to
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  Speaker 2: the health of Australians and territories, but also to the jobs.
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  Speaker 2: And I see this, and I see I find it
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  Speaker 2: difficult to work out what's the end game as to
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  Speaker 2: why governments would be doing this. We've twice come close,
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  Speaker 2: and twice anti government have moved quickly with a quick
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  Speaker 2: lockdown and we've been able to get out of that
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  Speaker 2: quickly and not get into a protracted, extended process that
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  Speaker 2: we've seen tragically in Sydney and Melbourne with many lives last.
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  Speaker 2: So I'm confused, I'm frustrated by it, and I hope
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  Speaker 2: that territory ends can sometimes put those small what some
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  Speaker 2: people see a loss of their own freedoms aside to say,
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  Speaker 2: wearing a mask and checking in is the least we
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  Speaker 2: can do to keep our loved ones well.
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  Speaker 1: Glenn Henley, thank you so very much for your time
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  Speaker 1: this morning as always, and and we'll all be keeping
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  Speaker 1: a close eye on those on those tourism vouchers and
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  Speaker 1: hoping that we can get out there and make sure
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  Speaker 1: that we're supporting our tourism operators. Good on you, Glenn,
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  Speaker 1: Thanks for your time this morning.
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  Speaker 2: Thank you, Katie, Thanks listeners, keep an oye for the vouchers.
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  Speaker 2: Thank you