Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Tourism Central Australia CEO Danial Rochford on the latest Tourism spend announcement by the NTG

Transcript

Tourism Central Australia CEO Danial Rochford on the latest Tourism spend announcement by the NTG · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: We know that the Northern Territory government has today announced
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: that they are investing twelve point eight million dollars in
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: a bid to lure international holidaymakers and workers to the
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: Northern Territory. These measures are going to capitalize on the
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: federal government's announcement last week to reopen international borders to
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: tourists later this month. The Chief Minister touched on some
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: of those some of that marketing and some of what
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: this is going to entail. Joining me on the line
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: right now from Tourism Central Australia the CEO, Daniel Rochford.
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: Good morning to you, Good.
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: Morning, Katie, and good morning to your listeners. Sounds like
• 0:34
  Speaker 2: a busy morning, Cadie.
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: Oh it's been very busy, that's for sure. Daniel. What
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: was your reaction to the announcement this morning about this
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: twelve point to eight million dollars going into tourism.
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: Love, this is good news. We suddenly welcome all investments
• 0:48
  Speaker 2: sore the tourism, hospitality in event sectors. And as you know,
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: our industry has been on its knees and we baked
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: down certainly our darkest days and as you and I
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: I've talked about in recent weeks, We need our government
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: to start to be proactive in international marketing, to tell
• 1:10
  Speaker 2: the world that the NT is open for business moving forward,
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: and this news and the committed funds is good news
• 1:18
  Speaker 2: to do that and certainly great to hear that the government's.
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: Listened, and I know that they've also you know they're
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: also looking at not just the marketing side of things,
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: but also one point three to five million dollars to
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: boost the territory skilled migration capacity, increasing the skilled migration
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: in the territory and providing that engagement support for territory businesses.
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: Is this going to be a good thing for Central
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: Australia or is it not really needed right now until
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: you get more tourists into town.
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: So chicken and egg this one. But as we speak,
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: the Central Australian Region on loan needs over a thousand
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: staff to get ready for the upcoming tourism season. Re
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: energizing of the Workstay Play program that they announced today,
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: plus also to the proactive initiative to courage working holiday
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: making is going to be great not just for Central
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: Australia but for the top end as well. So look,
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: we certainly welcome that and we also welcome the work
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: that's being done by federal government through working holiday maker programs,
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: plus yesterday's major international marketing announcement. So we're trying to
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: put Central Australia back on the map to visitors and
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: hopefully we'll see the results of that later this year.
• 2:38
  Speaker 2: You know, it takes a few many months for international
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: marketing efforts to spoil up.
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I was going to ask that, how long do
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: you think it's going to take, Daniel before you really
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: see the flow on of this announcement.
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: Look, everyone thinks with Gome's announcement that the international borders
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: are reopening on the twenty first, suddenly we're going to
• 2:57
  Speaker 2: see plane loads of people coming into the Northern territory.
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: Unfortunately that's not going to be the case. It's going
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: to be a marathon and not one hundred meter sprengths.
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: The CEO of the Brisbane Airport said just last week
• 3:09
  Speaker 2: that he doesn't see international tourists getting back to pre
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: COVID until twenty twenty four. So you know, we're in
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: a we're in a fight of our lives. We're coming back.
• 3:22
  Speaker 2: We want the government to be there facilitating support for
• 3:25
  Speaker 2: our industry and this is a good first step but
• 3:29
  Speaker 2: one thing I would say, Katie, is that we need
• 3:31
  Speaker 2: more from our governments at the federal and territory levels now.
• 3:36
  Speaker 2: We need support to rebound and to be as proactive
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: as we possibly can. You know, the Chief Minister talk
• 3:44
  Speaker 2: today about at Alice Spring's regional deal package of one
• 3:50
  Speaker 2: hundred and fifty million dollars. We need our federal and
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: territory governments to be supporting that. For we need our
• 3:57
  Speaker 2: federal and territory governments to.
• 3:59
  Speaker 3: Be committing as much money for the National Aboriginal Art Gallery.
• 4:04
  Speaker 3: And let's for thirty five years of talking about it,
• 4:09
  Speaker 3: let's seal the Marini loop.
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: Yeah, there is so much you know, like there are
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: so many different ways that I guess a lot of
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: us feel like there's always so much talk and maybe
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: not as much action as we'd like to see. But
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: right now we need to see that action.
• 4:24
  Speaker 2: Yeah, the time for talking is over.
• 4:26
  Speaker 4: As an industry, we look to our governments for support.
• 4:29
  Speaker 4: They have done an amazing job at all levels to
• 4:31
  Speaker 4: keep us safe during COVID and I know the passion
• 4:35
  Speaker 4: of your listeners this morning, and there's still a lot
• 4:38
  Speaker 4: of passion.
• 4:38
  Speaker 2: There, but you know they've done the job of keeping
• 4:41
  Speaker 2: a safe during the pandemic, but now we need to
• 4:45
  Speaker 2: move our head mindset to the economic recovery to support
• 4:50
  Speaker 2: the economic growth of the territory, and now is that
• 4:54
  Speaker 2: time to put this major investment into place.
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: Now, Daniel I did ask the Chief Minister on the
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: show a bit earlier this morning whether those international tourists
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: are going to need to be double vaxed or triple vaxed,
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: and he gave that certainty that they will just need
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: to be double vaccinated because that's the case internationally. Do
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: you think that provides enough confidence for those that are
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: looking at booking flights right now.
• 5:18
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
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  Speaker 4: Absolutely.
• 5:19
  Speaker 2: I think the industry and I know hospitality in TA
• 5:22
  Speaker 2: are very strong on this issue as well. We don't
• 5:24
  Speaker 2: want to have one rule federally and one rule at
• 5:27
  Speaker 2: the territory level. Have their consistency. Places like Germany have
• 5:33
  Speaker 2: long league times between second and third booster shops, so
• 5:36
  Speaker 2: we need to make sure that there's some consistency in place,
• 5:39
  Speaker 2: and that's good news. I hadn't heard that, and if
• 5:41
  Speaker 2: that's the case, great news.
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: No, we made sure we got that confirmed this morning
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  Speaker 1: because I know that there were so many people who
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: were still confused and don't worry. I asked him a
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: few times just to make sure that it was definitely
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: the case. Daniel.
• 5:54
  Speaker 2: Well, the last thing, of course we want is all
• 5:56
  Speaker 2: this money to be invested to people here for then
• 5:59
  Speaker 2: to read in the fine though they can't actually come
• 6:01
  Speaker 2: to the North terat because they don't have the third shot.
• 6:04
  Speaker 2: But you know, let's you know, you know most people
• 6:07
  Speaker 2: are getting that third booster, and you know there are
• 6:09
  Speaker 2: strong booster programs internationally, so look, I think that adds
• 6:13
  Speaker 2: a base level of great news.
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: Yeah, no, your spot on there, that's exactly right. We
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: need to make sure that it is very clear for
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  Speaker 1: those tourists if we're going to be spending a bucket
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: load of money on marketing, as we should be, because
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: we need to get them back into the territory very much.
• 6:29
  Speaker 2: So, and look for what I'm hearing from operators, it's
• 6:33
  Speaker 2: looking like a solid season hit number bookings are looking good.
• 6:36
  Speaker 2: So hopefully come April, come Easter, we've got Padma coming
• 6:40
  Speaker 2: up and great number of events here in Central Australia,
• 6:43
  Speaker 2: So there is no better time for you folk up
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  Speaker 2: in the top end to come down and visit us
• 6:48
  Speaker 2: here in beautiful Central Australia in the Red Center.
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: Absolutely well, Daniel Rochford, always great to speak with you mate,
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: and finally with a bit more good news, we'll talk
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: to you again very soon.
• 6:58
  Speaker 2: Thanks, thank you,