Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Katie spoke with Hospitality NT CEO Alex Bruce about the road map changes and the impact to the hospitality industry

Transcript

Katie spoke with Hospitality NT CEO Alex Bruce about the road map changes and the impact to the hospitality industry · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: He's the sea of hospitality here in the Northern Territory.
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Alex Pruce, Good morning, Alex. Let's try that again. I
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: think we've got him on this line. Good morning, Alex, Katie.
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: Sorry mate, having a technical issue there and running a
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: little bit late because we're speaking to the federal Health Minister.
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: But Alex, some good news over the weekend in the
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: sense that it does seem as though the Northern Territory
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: is going to be opening up sooner than we thought
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: as of today. Of course, some of these changes coming
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: into play for anyone traveling to the territory, they must
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: be fully vaccinated, but regardless of that's regardless of where
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: they're traveling from. But it does mean that if you
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: are vaccinated, you're now able to travel into the territory
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: and some of those rules have indeed changed. What was
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: the reaction from you and from the hospitality industry.
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: Yeah, some really good news from the government on Saturday,
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: led with the mask off moment that we were all
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: waiting for. So that was very good, immediate relief in
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: our hot, steamy weather. But then to follow it up
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: an important step today down to the seven days of
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: home quarantining. But for our industry, particularly chasing those tourists.
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: Moving the date from the eighteenth of January through to
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: the twentieth of December for quarantine free travel for COVID
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: negative double vaxed into state tourists. That's very, very positive
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: for us. It is.
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: It is such a like it's such a change obviously
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: from what we were thinking. We were expecting to go
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: through this traffic light system and sort of have these
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: different rules and regulations in place. But I think that
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: it's going to really be the way that the rest
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: of Australia is moving forward as well, isn't it.
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: I look absolutely at what it is and that was
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: the challenge before us, no doubt about it. The way
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: that COVID has been managed in the territory has been
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: best on field now for coming on two years. But
• 1:57
  Speaker 2: you know, we've spoken previously about our concerns that we
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: might start to fall behind as the rest of the
• 2:04
  Speaker 2: country did look to normalize it with the high vax rates.
• 2:07
  Speaker 2: Treat it like any other health outcome, calm down all
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: the nervous nelly's out there and just crack on with
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: life again. We looked like we were starting to fall
• 2:17
  Speaker 2: a bit behind and pleasingly with the higher than expected
• 2:20
  Speaker 2: vax rate because of the two extra weeks of stress
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: and trauma. Everyone's gone through lockdowns, lockouts, masks and all
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: the rest of it. Our vax rates are at a
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: point where our health officials can also say, you know,
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: let's chart a course forward and get back to old normal.
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: Was it a bit of a surprise for you that
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: shift from the Chief Minister.
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: It was a pleasing turn in the road. We'll put
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: it that way, and we know it's not the silver bullet.
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: This is good for Darwin and Alice Springs. That requirement
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: for four G means it's troubling even for home quarantining
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: people in the rural area that don't have four G
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: right now, I think they're got more limited options. We
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: know that there'll still be some restrictions into lower vaxxed
• 3:06
  Speaker 2: regional and remote areas, so that will really shape what
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: tourist product there is on off the next year at
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: this rate. So you know there's still a body of
• 3:15
  Speaker 2: work to be done. But absolutely got to give a
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: chick and a gold star to government for what they
• 3:20
  Speaker 2: announced on the weekend.
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: I know there were talks last week in Queensland that
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: even a one week shift before Christmas in the state's
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: roadmap would inject tens of millions of more dollars into
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: their economy. Do we know how this change could impact
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: the Northern Territory's economy?
• 3:37
  Speaker 2: Not yet pleasingly. You know, it was overwhelmingly received by
• 3:41
  Speaker 2: all of our accommodation providers in the city. But now
• 3:45
  Speaker 2: you know, they've got to put their head down and
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: they bum up and get the marketing plans right and
• 3:49
  Speaker 2: get all the promotions into market now that they have
• 3:52
  Speaker 2: those dates. But you know, after two years of a
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: roller coaster that we've all been on, certainty just means
• 3:59
  Speaker 2: so much right now. So to be able to have
• 4:02
  Speaker 2: that date, to know what we're working towards for it
• 4:04
  Speaker 2: to be this side of Christmas, Really it's as good
• 4:07
  Speaker 2: as we could have hoped for.
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: Is there any trepidation in terms of the ability to
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: check the increased volume of people that might be traveling
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: in and you know, making sure that they're vaccinated and
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: all that kind of thing from the sector, not that
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: I've heard of.
• 4:25
  Speaker 2: And we were quite keen to shift to that rapid
• 4:27
  Speaker 2: antagen testing it at the airport. We've been advocating that
• 4:31
  Speaker 2: for quite a while now, and we know Tony at
• 4:34
  Speaker 2: the airport as well. We could see from down south
• 4:38
  Speaker 2: in different mining industries and all the rest of it
• 4:41
  Speaker 2: that those kits that are quite easy to use and
• 4:45
  Speaker 2: you don't necessarily need a nurse to oversight it. So
• 4:49
  Speaker 2: we see that this is just one of the good
• 4:52
  Speaker 2: steps calming everything down. Moving on the other thing. Over
• 4:55
  Speaker 2: the weekend, Katie was making it clear that only double
• 4:59
  Speaker 2: vaxed tourists will be joining us at this stage. Again,
• 5:04
  Speaker 2: the government kind of flags this when they did their
• 5:06
  Speaker 2: summer on sale where there's up to one thousand dollars
• 5:09
  Speaker 2: in matched bonuses to try and get domestic travelers in
• 5:12
  Speaker 2: here over our traditionally quiet wet wet season. They announced
• 5:16
  Speaker 2: a couple of months ago that that would only be
• 5:18
  Speaker 2: going to double vaxxed interstate people. So once again we
• 5:21
  Speaker 2: see that this is in alignment with where we're all going.
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: Well, Alex Bruce, the CEO of Hospitality here in the
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: Northern Territory, always appreciate your time, mate, Thanks so much
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: for having a chat with us.
• 5:33
  Speaker 2: Here's Katie all the best.
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: Thank you you too.