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

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  Speaker 1: Now we'll head be on the bearrom The line and
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  Speaker 1: down to Central Australia because joining us on the line
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  Speaker 1: is Tourism Central Australia. Well, Daniel Rochford, Good morning to you, Daniel.
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  Speaker 2: Good morning Katie, Good morning to your listeners.
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  Speaker 1: Sorry, Daniel, I was just trying to get your microphone up,
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  Speaker 1: CEO of Tourism Central Australia is how I should have
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  Speaker 1: introduced you now, Daniel. We know that it's been a
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  Speaker 1: tough time when it comes to tourism all around Australia
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  Speaker 1: and indeed all around the world at the moment as
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  Speaker 1: a result of COVID. Some good news earlier this week
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  Speaker 1: I understand there was a funding announcement for some infrastructure
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  Speaker 1: or for some upgrades for Central Australia as well.
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  Speaker 2: Yes, Katie, the Federal Minister for Tourism S'm in Birmingham
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  Speaker 2: on World Tourism Day on Sunday announced two trenches of funding,
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  Speaker 2: one for infrastructure support for tourism operators and tourism as
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  Speaker 2: the sector across Australia. And then the second one is
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  Speaker 2: a direct three point five million dollar boost to Central
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  Speaker 2: Australian marketing efforts.
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  Speaker 1: Wow. Three point five million four Central Australian marketing. How
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  Speaker 1: I mean, how will that help? Oh?
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  Speaker 2: Look, it's a massive shot in the arm, Katie. You know,
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  Speaker 2: as you know, and I really appreciate the support you've
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  Speaker 2: had for our industry and industry here in Central Australia
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  Speaker 2: but on life support for the last six months and
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  Speaker 2: we've been doing it very tough. So this is a
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  Speaker 2: great acknowledgment by the Federal Government that Central Australian tourism
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  Speaker 2: region relies very heavily on international visitors and through this announcement,
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  Speaker 2: the Federal Government are directly supporting those regions who have
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  Speaker 2: specific reliance on international visitation and Central Australia is one
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  Speaker 2: of those.
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  Speaker 1: Now, like you've touched on obviously, international tourism is usually
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  Speaker 1: a huge part of the market for you guys. How
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  Speaker 1: what you know, how can we get Ozzie's to travel
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  Speaker 1: to Central Australia and really see all the wonders that
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  Speaker 1: make up Central Australia.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, Now, the challenge is to roll our sleeves up
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  Speaker 2: and get that message out. Look, we're very fortunate outbound
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  Speaker 2: tourism from Australia, Australian's leaving to go overseas is worth
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  Speaker 2: about fifty five billion dollars. So our challenge is to
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  Speaker 2: get a slice of that pie once people are traveling domestically,
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  Speaker 2: once borders start to come down. We're certainly going to
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  Speaker 2: be very active in trying to encourage people to come
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  Speaker 2: to Central Australia. It's that overseas holiday that you're not
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  Speaker 2: going to get it. It's something very special, spiritual, magical
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  Speaker 2: that you get from a Central Australian holiday.
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  Speaker 1: It really is. I mean, it's a magnificent place to visit,
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  Speaker 1: there is no doubt about that. And I know that
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  Speaker 1: in addition to that infrastructure funding that was announced earlier
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  Speaker 1: earlier this week, and also that three point five million dollars,
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  Speaker 1: the Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack did announce that well,
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  Speaker 1: the federal budget is going to include a three month
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  Speaker 1: extension for the government's domestic aviation and regional aviation support programs.
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  Speaker 1: No doubt this is also going to be really quite helpful.
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  Speaker 2: Oh absolutely, and getting aviation links into Lara and also
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  Speaker 2: Alice Springs is going to be critical in our rebound.
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  Speaker 2: We're also very keen to get the message out there
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  Speaker 2: that we also need to look at some major infrastructure,
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  Speaker 2: and a good example of that here in Central Australia,
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  Speaker 2: Katie is the outer Marini Loop linking Alice Springs and Ularue.
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  Speaker 2: If we can get that across the line, it's a
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  Speaker 2: game changer for our tourism industry.
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  Speaker 1: Do you think that we're any chance of doing that?
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  Speaker 2: Oh? Look, we have really stepped up our discussion around
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  Speaker 2: this particular road that's been talked about for thirty years now.
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  Speaker 2: But now is the time to get the Marini Loop field.
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  Speaker 1: Why would it be such a game changer, Daniel?
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  Speaker 2: You know what if we can get just five percent
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  Speaker 2: of those people flying into Ulara that are just flying
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  Speaker 2: in and out at the moment, coming up into the
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  Speaker 2: West McDonald Rangers, Wataka and then into Alice Springs, that
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  Speaker 2: is worth twenty million dollars into our regional visitor economy.
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  Speaker 1: Wow.
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  Speaker 2: And you know we all know.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, the likes of the West McDonald Rangers. I mean,
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  Speaker 1: some people would argue that they're really the best thing
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  Speaker 1: to go and visit in Central Australia.
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  Speaker 2: Look, I'm not going to pick any winners. I like
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  Speaker 2: the whole lot as you can imagine, but there is
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  Speaker 2: something special about the West Max And look we're working
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  Speaker 2: very closely with a lot of a lot of the
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  Speaker 2: indigenous organizations to start looking at new tourism ventures in
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  Speaker 2: that region. And look, you know, I think it is
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  Speaker 2: an amazing part of Central Australia and it's an important
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  Speaker 2: piece of the puzzle. If we close our eyes for
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  Speaker 2: a second and imagine in ten years you fly into
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  Speaker 2: our springs, visit the National Aboriginal Art Gallery and some
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  Speaker 2: of the experiences, then getting your car to go to
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  Speaker 2: the westmax through to a target culminating in the Rock.
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  Speaker 2: If we as marketers can't sell that to the world,
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  Speaker 2: we should give up our day jobs.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's you know, I mean, look, you've sulted to me.
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  Speaker 1: I'm probably an easy easy sell though, because I know
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  Speaker 1: how wonderful Central Australia is. You said twenty million dollars.
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  Speaker 1: It'd be worth twenty million dollars to the tourism economy.
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  Speaker 1: Is that annually?
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  Speaker 2: Yes? Indeed, Look where that's figures that we've received from
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  Speaker 2: from the MTG and also from our information that we've
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  Speaker 2: gleaned through economic modeling. You know, that's money going into
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  Speaker 2: our local regional economy. You know, a lot of people
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  Speaker 2: now where traditionally they would fly into our springs and
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  Speaker 2: maybe bust down to Airs Rock. What we're seeing now
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  Speaker 2: is most people flying in to Ularu and then flying
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  Speaker 2: back out again. What we're trying to do is increase
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  Speaker 2: dispersal withinside Central Australia, but also increasing nights, increasing length
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  Speaker 2: of stay here in the region.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's incredibly important and you know we don't want
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  Speaker 1: our springs missing out. You obviously want to make sure
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  Speaker 1: that everybody in Central Australia sees the benefit of tourists
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  Speaker 1: arriving and them arriving straight into Ularu would be having
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  Speaker 1: quite the impact.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, very much so. But look we've got a great
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  Speaker 2: vision ahead for us. But with this funding and off
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  Speaker 2: the bat of the summer on sales failed from the
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  Speaker 2: Tourism Northern Territory and the two rounds of the voucher. Look,
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  Speaker 2: there's in green bud of optimism there for our industry.
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  Speaker 1: Now, speaking of that Summer on sale, October is when
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  Speaker 1: that opens, doesn't it.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah. Absolutely, And the message is to all Territorians, get
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  Speaker 2: the message out to all your friends, family and colleagues
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  Speaker 2: in the other states to go through and talk them
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  Speaker 2: through to coming to the Northern Territory. Over summer, it's
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  Speaker 2: going to be the cheapest you're going to ever experience
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  Speaker 2: in the Northern Territory from accommodation. Tool prices are traditionally
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  Speaker 2: a little bit lower in the lower season, so you
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  Speaker 2: know that's going to be a great opportunity to encourage
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  Speaker 2: people to come to Central Australia and also the top end.
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  Speaker 1: Now, Daniel, just finally this morning. Obviously job keeper changes
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  Speaker 1: came into play yesterday. How is that impacting tourism in
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  Speaker 1: Central Australia and some of our operators.
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  Speaker 2: Oh, look, there's no doubt this is probably the most
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  Speaker 2: challenging situation currently with our industry that is causing a
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  Speaker 2: lot of anxiety. Look, there's no doubt that we're going
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  Speaker 2: to see job losses. Businesses are reacting to this as
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  Speaker 2: we speak, and you know we're going to see some
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  Speaker 2: negative impacts. There is no doubt. We've certainly been very
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  Speaker 2: proactive into trying to encourage the federal government to extend it.
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  Speaker 2: They've made the decision. Look, you know, we welcome what
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  Speaker 2: we've got on the table, but you know it will
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  Speaker 2: have consequences unfortunately, especially as our respective regions here in
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  Speaker 2: the Northern Territory top end and Central Australia go into
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  Speaker 2: our low season, which is going to have a detrimental effect.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, no doubt so. Like you said, I mean, it
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  Speaker 1: is so important for all of us to really it
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  Speaker 1: might sound a bit silly or maybe a bit cliche,
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  Speaker 1: but do make sure that you tell your relatives, you
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  Speaker 1: tell your friends that live into state, you know, get
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  Speaker 1: be part of the Summer on Sale initiative. If you're
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  Speaker 1: a local and you've always thought about traveling to different
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  Speaker 1: parts of the Northern Territory, we'll try to get out
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  Speaker 1: there and do it. It is so important that we
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  Speaker 1: try to keep a bit of an eye out for
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  Speaker 1: each other at this point in time.
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  Speaker 2: Absolutely, and I know the word here in Alyssas there's
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  Speaker 2: a lot of people going up to the top end.
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  Speaker 2: I'm certainly encouraging the reverse of that. Everyone in the
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  Speaker 2: top end come down to Central Australia in the next
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  Speaker 2: few weeks and months and experience what we've got down here.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah. Absolutely well. Daniel Rochford, the Tourism Central Australia CEO,
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  Speaker 1: always great to talk to you. Thanks so much for
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  Speaker 1: your time.
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  Speaker 2: Thanks Katie, have a great day you too.