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

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

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  Speaker 1: If you want to know what's happening on the local
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: political landscape, Kay Wolf has it covered on three sixty.
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  Speaker 2: Every one is listening Mixed one oh four point.
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  Speaker 3: Nine joining me on the line right now from Tourism
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  Speaker 3: Central Australia, the CEO Daniel Rochford.
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  Speaker 1: Good morning, Daniel, Good morning Katie, and good morning to
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  Speaker 1: your listeners, and hello from the Golden heart of Territory
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  Speaker 1: in ten Creek.
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  Speaker 2: Oh inten this morning. How's the weather?
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  Speaker 1: Indeed, I am?
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  Speaker 2: Is it warm?
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  Speaker 1: Yes, it's an absolutely warm day here. So I've already
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  Speaker 1: hit the forty degree.
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  Speaker 3: No, not even eleven o'clock and you're already at forty
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  Speaker 3: I'm not surprised.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, Now mate.
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  Speaker 3: What was your reaction to the to the fee increase
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  Speaker 3: for our parks. I know that it's it's sort of
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  Speaker 3: been in the pipeline for a while. How did you
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  Speaker 3: react this morning when you saw the amounts?
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  Speaker 1: Well, we're pleased that it's finally at in the public
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  Speaker 1: and we're you know, obviously Tourism Central Australian tourism top
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  Speaker 1: ends have been talking about this for some time in
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  Speaker 1: terms of making sure that the voice of tourism has
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  Speaker 1: been heard and I'm very pleased to say, Katie that
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  Speaker 1: some of the concerns of the tourism industry had around
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  Speaker 1: these fees have certainly been listened to. Look, I appreciate
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  Speaker 1: the frustrations and change is never easy, but look, I
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  Speaker 1: think at the end of the day, other jurisdictions have
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  Speaker 1: done this. I haven't had a phone call from a
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  Speaker 1: tourism operator in Central Australia to say, well is going
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  Speaker 1: to come crashing down because of it. I think the
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  Speaker 1: most important thing, and the real elephant in the room
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  Speaker 1: on this issue, is making sure that their fees raised,
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  Speaker 1: how this process reinjected back into our national parks, both
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  Speaker 1: through infrastructure and through services, and supporting our national parks
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  Speaker 1: and growing them for the future. And that's certainly true
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  Speaker 1: the perspective of a really important part of this puzzle.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, I agree with you, and that's certainly what I'm
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  Speaker 3: hearing quite loudly and clearly. That's why I guess I
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  Speaker 3: was a little bit surprised when we found out how
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  Speaker 3: expensive it's going to be to get this new website
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  Speaker 3: up and running. The tenders out at the moment between
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  Speaker 3: just under three million dollars and just under five million dollars.
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  Speaker 3: I did ask the Minister for Parks this morning in
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  Speaker 3: the initial stages, is that revenue that's raised going to
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  Speaker 3: have to actually go back into covering the costs of
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  Speaker 3: this new booking system, and she said that it would
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  Speaker 3: need to. I mean, Daniel, is that a concern to
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  Speaker 3: you or is it just part and parcel of the
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  Speaker 3: implementation of these fees.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, that's that's certainly the first I've heard of that, Katie,
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  Speaker 1: and it's come from the Minister. Obviously it's got to
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  Speaker 1: be true. Look, certainly the feedback I got from Parts
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  Speaker 1: of the Wildlife of the new revenue new raised out
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  Speaker 1: of parks fees and the multi day walk fees will
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  Speaker 1: be reinjected back into the national Parts and Wildlife budgets.
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  Speaker 1: Certainly we had a frustration around frustration certainly a piece
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  Speaker 1: of feedback two parts of my life about the booking
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  Speaker 1: engine that they're proposing. You know, we have we're very
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  Speaker 1: fortunate in the Northern Territory where all the four accredited
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  Speaker 1: visitor Information centers in the territory use the same booking
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  Speaker 1: system in the infocenters. And we've certainly been making the
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  Speaker 1: argument to Parts and Wildlife that this new booking system
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  Speaker 1: needs to integrate seamlessly with the existing systems in the
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  Speaker 1: information centers. As you know, many of our visitors come
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  Speaker 1: to the info centers for support and we need that
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  Speaker 1: to be as seamless as possible.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, I agree, you know, we don't want to make
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  Speaker 3: these changes and then it becomes incredibly difficult to be
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  Speaker 3: able to book anything.
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  Speaker 2: We've got to make sure it's nice and simple, Daniel, when.
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  Speaker 1: You're to actually at the level of the investment.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, absolutely, Daniel, when you talk about you know, you'd
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  Speaker 3: said to us last time we spoke about this that
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  Speaker 3: obviously the concern as well was you know, sometimes tour
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  Speaker 3: bookings and some of those longer term bookings have made
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  Speaker 3: you know, eighteen months.
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  Speaker 2: Out, is that still a worry or has.
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  Speaker 3: The government tried their best to sort of adhere to
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  Speaker 3: those concerns that you'd raised a little while back.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, Look, I'd have to say the government has listened
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  Speaker 1: to the voice of tourism on this issue and we
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  Speaker 1: have been given a very clear commitment that no commercial
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  Speaker 1: fees will be introduced anytime soon over the next eighteen months,
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  Speaker 1: and they will be deferring that to twenty twenty two.
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  Speaker 1: So We certainly welcome that, and I know many of
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  Speaker 1: our industry were very concerned about having to insulate this
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  Speaker 1: fee increase into their revenue streams in the short term.
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  Speaker 1: So that's certainly very positive news for the tourism industry
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  Speaker 1: and warmly welcomed.
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  Speaker 2: Oh well, I'm glad to hear.
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  Speaker 3: I am glad that you know that that consultation did
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  Speaker 3: actually take place in the eventually, because you know, it
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  Speaker 3: is so important that we have the industry along for
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  Speaker 3: the journey and making sure that you guys aren't going
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  Speaker 3: to be heavily impacted, particularly when you talk about the
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  Speaker 3: impact that you've already got, you know, with COVID.
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  Speaker 1: Oh very much, Okatie. I think certainly we've heard that
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  Speaker 1: there's definitely a guarantee on the table that they fees
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  Speaker 1: won't be implemented. Commercial fees won't be implemented until twenty
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  Speaker 1: twenty two. We did get a commitment that the fees
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  Speaker 1: rays will go into the Parks and Wildlife budget, and
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  Speaker 1: I think there needs to be some transparency there on
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  Speaker 1: what that looks like. And that's still a piece that
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  Speaker 1: I'm still unsure about in terms of what these new
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  Speaker 1: fees will go towards and I think that's an important
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  Speaker 1: question to ask and that last piece around that integration
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  Speaker 1: of the new booking engine is still a critical piece,
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  Speaker 1: is still to be worked through with parts in my life.
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  Speaker 2: Well, always good to catch up with you, Daniel.
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  Speaker 3: I really appreciate your time today and say get ay
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  Speaker 3: to everyone in Tenant.
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  Speaker 1: For us definitely well, thanks very much, thank you.
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  Speaker 3: That is Tourism Central Australia's CEO, Daniel Rochford their live
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  Speaker 3: from Tenant Creek