WELCOME: FROM THE CEO
H
opefully, you are reading this when Tasmania’s borders have re-opened to low-risk jurisdictions across the country, meaning we are slowly starting to welcome interstate visitors back into the State. (I say ‘hopefully’ as I am writing this a few days before October 26, and one thing I have learnt over the past 6-months is to not expect anything to happen until it happens!) But if it is the case our borders are open let us believe the worst of COVID is now behind us, and our work to rebuild Tasmania’s visitor economy has begun.
Everyone in the tourism industry would have lay awake at some point turning their mind in knots trying to work out the answers to these questions and others, trying to work out what this might all mean to their business or job. I know I have. As I heard someone say recently, if these are such ‘unprecedented times’, when exactly did we have ‘precedented times?’
What happens now is really anyone’s best guess.
In other words, there is no going back now, only forward.
Yes, we have sound visitor projections to rely on, and all the modelling suggests we have every reason to look forward to a strong tourism bounce back in Tasmania relative to other parts of the country.
Our challenge as an industry and as individuals working in Tasmanian tourism is to navigate these uncertain times with clarity and a shared sense of purpose, but with the flexibility to respond to the different opportunities and challenges as they emerge.
What I do not think any of us can be completely sure on is the timing of how quickly that recovery happens. How bad is the national economy going to get over the next 12 months and what is this going to do to consumer confidence and discretionary spending on holidays? How strong a summer can we expect when 2
our largest market, Victoria, is coming out of 6-months of COVID-trauma? What is next year’s winter going to look like? How will our major events program work next year? What happens when Job Keeper ends?
This edition of ‘TICT Quarterly’ explores our response to these ‘unprecedented times’. We speak to tourism operators who have successfully - (and, yes, be prepared, I am going to use that other horrible term of 2020) - ‘pivoted’ - their business over the past few
