TICT Quarterly Edition 4 - Summer 2020/21

QUARTERLY

REALISING

TASMANIA’S AGRITOURISM POTENTIAL

10 SPIRIT STRESS: THE FIGHT TO KEEP THE BASS STRAIT VESSEL REPLACEMENT ON-TRACK

16 WONDER WOMEN: TWO TRAILBLAZING TASMANIAN TOURISM LEADERS IN-FOCUS

20

KIA ORA: THE UNPRECEDENTED PUSH INTO THE NEW ZEALAND MARKET

TOURISM INDUSTRY COUNCIL TASMANIA

Cover page image: Nick Haddow, Bruny Island Cheese and Beer co with one of his prized cows.

The Podcast Series for Tasmanian tourism operators

60 Bite Size Conservations with our best and brightest, the influential and the inspiring in Tasmanian tourism.

WELCOME: FROM THE EDITOR

Welcome to February, a time when the north of the state is usually abound with visitors and hotels are jam-packed for Festivale and football, while the south of the state revels in the success of the Taste, Sydney-to-Hobart and a summer of cruise ship chaos!

We all know that the 2021 reality is far from the norm. But despite the challenges and concerns that have no doubt kept myriad tourism operators awake at night, there are still successes to be celebrated and future plans to be championed. This edition of TICT’s Quarterly is certainly full of information and insights into the latter. Our cover boy is no stranger to the media spotlight and he was a hit at the TICT conference, when he spoke passionately about his dream to see agri-tourism flourish across the state.

In our feature piece, across pages 6-9, Nick Haddow explains why Tasmania should lead the nation and be the first state to better regulate agri-tourism and encourage innovation in artisan production to boost the state’s bottom line. We also celebrate the success of two Tasmanian women at opposite ends of their careers. It was a pleasure to hear from Margaret Morgan and Amanda Sansom, who were last year recognised as outstanding examples within the tourism industry – Margaret by etching her name in the honour role as the 2020 Tasmanian Tourism Champion and Amanda as the Tourism Minister’s Young Achiever.

Also in this edition, TICT CEO Luke Martin gets fired up about the lack of action on the replacement vessels for TTLine’s Spirit of Tasmania ships. We hear about the efforts behind the scenes within Tourism Tasmania to restore access into our island state, encourage people to holiday at home and develop closer ties with our neighbours across the Tasman.

And while many hotel operators are struggling with cancelled bookings and empty beds, there is hope on the horizon if you can weather the COVID storm, with David Reed providing some tips about yield management to ensure you can maximise returns into the future.

We hope you enjoy it, welcome your feedback and ideas and look forward to delivering you more engaging and informative content each quarter.

WELCOME: FROM TICT

we will continue to experience throughout the year. At the same time, all the key indicators are showing strong pent-up visitor demand for Tasmania from our major source markets. This should give us heart that as international borders remain closed through 2021, and if we can gain more certainty around our open domestic border, Tasmania will bounce out of COVID as well as any destination across the country.

Welcome to the first edition of TICT Quarterly for 2021.

TICT hopes to grow this industry journal this year and accredited tourism operators should expect a new edition to arrive in the mail every three months. We encourage you to take the time to read each edition and share with your staff and colleagues.

This is an important part of keeping everyone upto-date with the strategies and priorities industry and government are pursuing in rebuilding from COVID. If you have any ideas or suggestions for what you would like to see in future editions, please do not hesitate to let us know.

It is fair to say we are off to a shaky start in 2021.

The reintroduction of border restrictions to New South Wales and then Queensland over December and January cost us plenty and were a sobering reminder of the uncertainty

The Federal Government’s commitment to extend the Bass Strait Passenger Vehicle Equalisation Scheme to effectively make it free to put your vehicle on the Spirit of Tasmania from March to June is a welcome and important initiative. Over 20,000 new bookings were made on the Spirits in the first two weeks after these ‘Free Car Fares’ went on sale. This is an amazing response and is hopefully starting to translate into more accommodation and tour reservations across the State over the Autumn months. TICT identified the extension of the BSPVES as a priority right at the start of COVID. We anticipated traditional drive holidays were likely to make a big comeback through COVID, and it was important Tasmania was able to compete aggressively on price with other drive holiday destinations across the country. We appreciate the efforts of the State Government, TT Line and our local Federal MPs,

The reintroduction of border restrictions to New South Wales and then Queensland over December and January cost us plenty and were a sobering reminder of the uncertainty we will continue to experience throughout the year.

particularly Senator Jonathon Duniam, in supporting our case to get this positive outcome for our industry.

Extending the BSPVES is not the only support we will need from governments from 2021 as tourism industries across Australia continue to confront disrupted markets and ongoing COVID restrictions. Many operators will be feeling particularly anxious about the end of JobKeeper in March. The Federal Government has been saying very clearly for months that it will not extend JobKeeper, while also acknowledging the tourism industry is a special case of needing further assistance. We are all looking to see what form that assistance takes, as there are many Tasmanian businesses a long way off normal operating conditions, through no fault of their own.

In this context, I do want to encourage anyone who is feeling particularly anxious or overwhelmed to reach out for help. Being in tourism can be a lonely business, but there are services and support available to you for financial counselling and business support, or to simply have a chat about how you are feeling. Looking after our mental wellbeing will a major theme for the industry through 2021 and is something each of us have a responsibility to ourselves, our family, and employees.

Daniel Leesong, Chair Tourism Industry Council Tasmania

Personally, I am feeling very positive about the year ahead and our prospects as an industry. But we have a long way to go and a lot more hurdles to overcome. It is one step at a time.

IN FOCUS: NICK HADDOW’S VIEWS ON BOOSTING AGRI-TOURISM

Tasmania should lead the nation and be the first state to better regulate agri-tourism with a proactive framework that encourages innovation in artisan production and provides an economic boost in the process.

That’s the view of pioneering food and beverage producer and Chairman of Brand Tasmania, Nick Haddow. Nick is the owner of Bruny Island Cheese and Bruny Island Beer and was tasked with being the inaugural Brand Tasmania chair, having been on the Brand Tasmania Council for seven years prior.

While building Tasmania’s reputation both locally and internationally has been at the forefront of his mind since he completed a Churchill Fellowship focussing on place branding in small island economies, he is also championing new initiatives to ensure Tasmania can emerge from the problems associated with COVID-19 in a stronger position.

One key driver for the future tourism economy that he believes is a no-brainer is agri-tourism – the business of bringing the consumer into the heart of farm and food/beverage production experiences.

It’s a business model that he’s perfected over nearly two decades since he moved to Bruny Island in 2003 following a stint working in North East Tasmania.

“I grew up in Adelaide and travelled and worked around the world and always had a slight bent towards living and working on islands so it was an amazing opportunity to come to Tasmania and work at Pyengana Dairy Company 20 years ago,” Nick recalls.

“That’s a cheese that’s been made in that location for well over 100 years and that’s not a sentence you get to say very often in Australia, so to be the custodian of that cheese for a short time was a privilege.

“We were planning to head back to Japan but first thought we better travel and actually see some of Tasmania and within five minutes of driving off the ferry at Bruny Island we were making plans to stay.

“It was an absolute leap of faith – there were no dairy farms on the island and back then there were no tourists – it was crazy!”

Within 10 years of starting his operation he was lauded nationally, claiming the Telstra Australian Business of the Year.

“There was no incredible foresight or strategic planning around the decision, we just did it because we loved the place and we had to make a go of it and failure wasn’t an option,” he says.

“We knew we had to just work bloody hard and we haven’t really stopped working bloody hard to make it work.

“To me, what it’s about is connecting people with the produce that we make. We don’t behave like a normal business. A normal business would concentrate on making their products and then hand it over to the supply chain to distribute and sell on their behalf. That didn’t stack up for me.

“95 per cent of what we sell is sold by us directly to the people who are going to eat it so it’s a supply chain of two links and tourism is a big part of that. But we didn’t go into tourism because we thought tourism was a good idea. We went into tourism to connect our products to the people eating them and consequently we are now very busy.”

In recent years Nick has added even more authenticity to his products and experiences by starting a dairy farm in Glen Huon.

“Our dairy farm is everything that we dreamed it would be –a showcase of sustainable, small-scale, organic dairy farming that is all about maximising animal welfare and milk quality,” Nick explains.

“Our farm is unlike almost every other dairy farm in Australia. Not being part of the industrial dairy system means that we are able to make choices about how we farm which commercial dairy farms do not have the privilege to make. That makes our farm something we are incredibly proud of.”

Nick has plans to open his farm up to tours and events in the near future and wants to expand the critical mass of other agri-tourism offerings around the state.

It’s a concept that presents an enormous opportunity to add value to the Tasmanian brand, the visitor economy and the general socio-economic vibrancy of our state, he says.

We need it to entice our visitors to MONA into our regions where there is less art and more artisan, to provide those real, dirt-underthe-fingernails experiences that our visitors can’t find anywhere else and to tell our story and exhibit our culture in a way that seems more authentic than anything else.

Bruny Island Cheese Co. Credit: Adam Gibson

“But, one of my concerns is the gap between the perception that our visitors have of Tasmania’s agri-food sector and the reality we present to them. When I talk to our visitors on Bruny Island, they seem surprised that there are not a hundred Bruny Island Cheese Co.’s scattered around the state. They are bewildered that finding a real, regional seafood experience is not as easy as they thought it would be. The picture we have painted for them is not quite the masterpiece they had in their imagination.

“Sure we have some great agrifood experiences here – and I very much include our vibrant wine sector in that. But, I don’t think we have enough of them to close that gap between perception and reality.”

To grow the agri-tourism sector, Nick says there needs to be a growth in agri-food production

first – but given how many start-up businesses fail early on, he admits it’s going to be a challenge to ensure their viability.

“In France, traditional agri-food products are subsidised and their manufacture is protected under law. Why? Because in France they value culture and they realise that those foods are their culture.

“I think we need an organisation that nurtures and promotes our artisan agri-food sector. A bit like Wine Tasmania does for the wine sector. Let’s call this organisation Food Tasmania and initially fund it through the government but ultimately by the agri-food sector and the agri-tourism industry.

“Its role would be to market and promote Tasmanian artisan food, to provide business and extension support to emerging and established food

producers and to represent and advocate their interests to the government. Most importantly it would also be responsible for growing the sector, ensuring the sustainability of its participants and maintaining our reputation for premium produce. It would work closely with Tourism, State Growth and Brand Tasmania.

“In doing so it would address the supply issue and sure up a growing number of agri-tourism experiences in Tasmania.

“But I think one of its first jobs should be to look at the rules governing agri-food production and the insane level of compliance required. This is the number one reason so many businesses fail, or never get off the ground.”

Nick’s suggested a government or local financial institution scheme to provide small, lowinterest, unsecured loans to provide the financial scaffolding required in their first 5 years.

“These funds could be used directly for preparing farms and food producers to enter the visitor economy to make small property improvements, or product and service development. Small agritourism businesses usually need more incremental assistance for smaller infrastructure like outdoor safety lighting, signage or equipment, not big grants. I’m talking loans of up to $15k.”

Nick says the state also needs to change some food regulations so that small scale businesses are not disadvantaged.

Curringa Farm Credit: Tourism Tasmania

“The State Government needs to work with agricultural regulatory bodies to develop and implement a scale system based upon annual turnover or production measures to ensure that regulations and the associated administration are relevant to the size of the business.

“In the US, there are often rules that apply to businesses that only sell locally, and directly, called Cottage Food Regulations, which differ from the rules applied to large, wholesale and international food producers.

“Often based on state and local regulations, these rules allow businesses that have a small market share, who know all parts of the food production system, who sell to the end user or restaurant and are therefore fully traceable and accountable, to step outside the rules designed for the anonymous, industrial food system. That traceability, combined with the very small production capacity and localised distribution, means that if there are any

problems, they are very quickly dealt with and easily contained.

“Such rules go to the heart of a vibrant agri-tourism framework because they directly assist in building a local food culture. Nobody comes back from a visit to France, Italy or Spain and says “how great are the rules over there?”. No, they come back raving about the food for sale at markets, in bars, in delis and on farms.

“Australia’s current multilayered regulatory framework doesn’t recognise the difference between a small, artisan, farm-based producer and a large industrial producer.

“Tasmania needs a new regulatory framework – one that values, upholds and builds our food culture. One that encourages innovation in small to medium-sized agribusinesses,” he says.

“Not one that discourages new ideas, diversity and experimentation.”

“Let’s be the place where the first raw milk soft cheese is made in Australia. Let’s be the place where you can buy milk, unpasteurised, straight from a dairy farm. Let’s be the place where we make traditional fermented sausages. Let’s be the place where wild animals that are hunted or harvested can be used by our chefs and served to our visitors. These are not crazy ideas – they are all happening elsewhere in the world, and are done so both safely and for the benefit of maintaining or strengthening local culture.

Freycinet Marine Farm Credit: Tourism Tasmania & Adrian Cook

POLICY WATCH: SPIRIT STRUGGLE

In 2017, TT-Line launched its vessel replacement strategy for the Spirit of Tasmania ships. The vision was for two brandnew purpose-built ships, 40% larger than the current vessels, with capacity for 2000 Passengers and 1700 lane metres of vehicle space on every crossing.

The vessel replacement strategy was based on years of work and millions of dollars invested by TT-Line in measuring future demand potential with the best available vessel technology to serve Tasmania for the next twenty years.

At the time, the plan was enthusiastically endorsed by the Tasmanian Government and the tourism industry with very few, if any, dissenting voices. We were told to expect the first of these new 212m ships to arrive in the Mersey River in mid-2021, with the second ship scheduled to arrive a year later. What transpired since has been well documented; the German Ship Builder TT-Line first engaged to build the ships got itself into financial trouble and voided the contract, leaving TT-Line to find a new shipyard able to meet its brief.

Mid-last year, TT-Line was ready to sign-up a Finnish Ship Builder, when the State Government intervened, instead establishing its own Taskforce to explore the opportunity to procure all or part of the vessel replacement

contract within Australia, and ideally, Tasmania. With the global economy hanging over the abyss, who could argue with the State Government’s intent to test whether more of the $800 million it was being asked to spend on the new Bass Strait vessels, could support Australian jobs? It is a completely reasonable and responsible thing for the Tasmanian Government to do. But for our industry, the State Government’s process and the public debate it has triggered, has created uncertainty about the future of Bass Strait when what we need is security.

The hard truth for our industry is that in 2021 when we were told to expect new ships to arrive in Devonport, we are literally sea miles away from seeing our new generation of Spirits.

Before Christmas, TICT provided the State Government’s Vessel Replacement Taskforce with a detailed submission. The Taskforce had not called for submissions from the tourism industry but given the importance of the Spirits to our industry, and the fact there is no dedicated tourism representative on this Taskforce, we felt compelled to make our position known. Our submission made the following points:

• The current twin Spirit of Tasmania service has been incredibly successful for the

Tasmanian tourism industry over the past two decades, with visitors who arrive in Tasmania by sea generally staying longer, spending more, and dispersing further into regional Tasmania;

• Despite rapidly changing market conditions and travel behaviour with low-cost airlines and shortened holidays, Spirit of Tasmania has been able to maintain and often grow its market share;

• Over recent years the Spirit of Tasmania service has experienced capacity restraints, particularly over the peak summer months and for the caravan and campervan markets;

• Any further delay in the vessel replacement will cause a bottleneck on future industry growth as we recover from COVID;

• We strongly support TT-Line’s conclusion that growing its current, highlyreliable and successful Spirit of Tasmania service with similar, larger twin vessels is the optimum model for Bass Strait passenger transport for the next twenty-years.

Our full submission can be viewed on our website –www.tict.com.au

We have over recent months seen a concerted public relations campaign by ship builders in Australia wanting to secure a piece of the Bass Strait pie. TICT has met with representatives from each of

the ship builders who have publicly identified as interested in the project. We respect their perspectives and hopefully they understood our priorities to get the best possible ships for Bass Strait as quickly as possible. While we understand the desire to support a vibrant ship building industry in Australia, supporting that industry must not come at the expense of what is the right outcome for our tourism industry and Tasmania’s visitor economy. The delay in securing the new

ships has already cost our tourism industry economic opportunity and growth potential. Further delays will only start to compromise investment in new tourism infrastructure in regional destinations across the State. Whereas TT-Line spent years finalising a comprehensive business plan and design for the future of their Spirit of Tasmania service, we are now seeing completely different concepts for Bass Strait ferries being trumpeted on the front

page of newspapers with no supportive business case, no design or sea trials, and that bare no relevance to TT-Line’s model.

Tourism is far too important to Tasmania, and Bass Strait is too important to our tourism industry, for such kite-flying to be taken too seriously.

So it is reassuring that Premier and Tourism Minister Peter Gutwein told January’s NorthWest Tourism Forum that the ‘Government is absolutely committed to ensuring we have ships that are the best fit for our tourism and freight needs, and importantly, can meet demand as it rebuilds.’

Martin, Chief Executive Tourism Industry Council Tasmania

Luke

If we have learned anything over the past 12-months it is that we have a Premier and Tourism Minister who sticks true to his word, so we do look forward to this commitment bearing true when it comes to resolving uncertainty about our next generation Spirit of Tasmania ships.

SKILL SET: HOTEL YIELD MANAGEMENT

Yield management is not a software program for the hotel industry – it is a system of analysing a business to seek the very best performance by using a variable (dynamic) pricing mechanism.

Yield management first appeared in the aviation industry, when in the 1970s the deregulated industry began to maximise efficiency, ensuring all seats were occupied before take-off, and offering varied price structures to the consumer. For the first time it was acknowledged that having passengers paying at least something towards operating costs was better than flying with empty seats.

The element that is common between aviation and hotel rooms is that both inventories are “perishable” – once the plane takes off, there is nothing you can do about trying to sell any of the seats on the plane. Similarly, when a room is empty overnight, the opportunity for that revenue is lost forever.

A room has only a 24 hour “shelf life”.

In the manufacturing and other retail industries, there is capacity to keep the stock and leave it on the shelf if not sold, but that luxury is not available to the hotel and aviation industries.

Yield management is about the market mix (where your visitors come from and through which channel), cost and price relationships and the distribution of product. It is a suite of components that, when working in harmony, will present the best opportunity to maximise returns.

The key components are:

1) Knowing your detailed fixed costs (rates, insurances, finances, connection charges, telephone, WiFi, website, social media, etc);

2) Knowing your length of stay – which directly affects the costs of changeovers;

It is sometimes easier to define the objectives of yield management rather than explain what it actually is – in other words – the outcomes are easier to understand than the process.

Cradle Mountain Hotel – Split Level King Room Credit: Supplied Courtesy of RACT Destinations

3) Knowing your variable costs (labour, laundry, consumables, energy);

4) and, Knowing your transaction costs (commissions, merchant fees etc).

Armed with this information, yield management takes a holistic view of the hotel business, relating the various different costs (variable, fixed etc) to revenues, and modelling different prices, defining the different ratios of the sales mix (how much business is derived through booking. com, how much is commercial business, how much direct etc) and setting targets for those distribution channels.

One of the biggest influences in the net profits of any accommodation business is the length of stay. To changeover a room for one night may cost

up to 40% of the revenue – to change it over 2 nights of revenues may be 20% of the revenue – so what price should the second or third or even fourth nights be? (Certainly not the same as the first it would appear.)

This practice is particularly pertinent to the small accommodation operator, where there are constant battles with seasonal peaks and troughs, many OTA’s offering different pricing regimes and commissions, location issues, regional activities and local pricing competition.

By David Reed, CEO David Reed Consulting Group

Yield management is therefore the process of allocating the right accommodation to the right customer at the right price, with the objective of maximising yield.

Hotel Verge Launceston Credit: Anjie Blair

T21: VISITOR ECONOMY UPDATE

When the T21 Visitor Economy Action Plan

2020-2022 was released in August 2019, who could have anticipated the ongoing roller coaster of COVID-19. Our immediate recovery priorities were clear – restore access into our island state, rebuild visitation as market opportunities become available and most importantly, support our business owners and our workforce to survive through the impacts of COVID-19.

As an industry we were also in the fortunate position of being clear on our long-term aspirations for tourism in Tasmania – right across our state collectively our view is to be more deliberate in our agenda to be responsible and sustainable – environmentally, culturally, economically and in our communities.

As the first state tourism sector to release their priorities for recovery, some may have wondered about positioning our long-term vision at the point in time when keeping doors open and paying our valued workforce were the highest priority. That we can work together across industry and government, through the T21 partnership, to target the immediate impacts of the crisis and continue our focus on the longer term horizon speaks to our collective strength, resilience and confidence.

Following the immediate injection of government grants to support cash flow and other business support needs in the early stages of the crisis, the T21 partnership focussed on 50 priority actions, including pivoting (the word of 2020) to be in all domestic markets as they become available. This would leverage the brand strength of Tasmania, noting Come Down for Air had only just been released into markets shortly before COVID-19 hit. The pandemic also has increased desire to be in nature and away from large cities, boosting the appeal of our destination – our confidence was spurred on as we saw our aviation partners allocating strong capacity to routes from our core domestic markets to our state.

There has been some challenges with outbreaks in our key markets, but the team in Tourism Tasmania is confident that we will rebound strongly. We have also kept our focus on new markets, launching a strong New Zealand campaign that over time will deliver a new fan base for Tasmania in our Kiwi friends over the ditch.

For many years our events program has been the envy of our mainland counterparts and it is fair to say that COVID-19 is continuing to provide challenge in this area. The Events Tasmania team in the Department of State Growth have been working tirelessly to transform the way events can be delivered so that we can have a strong offering into the future.

We have also been heartened that our fellow Tasmanians have been out enjoying the many gems in our state and most importantly what our operators have to offer. The Make Yourself at Home campaign and vouchers have only just ignited the spark of what this market opportunity offers our tourism industry. It will be a continued area of focus.

Support for our tourism businesses has continued with grants to support business continuity, relief for energy bills, event infrastructure, the waiving of liquor licensing fees, support for operators to re-engage with the interstate market as borders open and the extension of payroll tax rebates.

We are now focussed on the priority actions for the next six months – as we respond quickly to the changing needs of industry and get on the front foot with our markets as they become available.

Anne Greentree, Director Visitor Economy Strategy

This touches on just a few of the important priorities that have been delivered through the T21 industry and government partnership to support our tourism recovery. Please read the full progress report at www.t21.net.au.

Credit: Revolution MTB

TOURISM PROFILE: SHINING A LIGHT ON TWO TOURISM STARS

Two Tasmanian women at opposite ends of their careers are living proof that hard work always pays off.

Margaret Morgan and Amanda Sansom were last year recognised as outstanding examples with-in the tourism industry – Margaret by etching her name in the honour role as the 2020 Tasmanian Tourism Champion and Amanda as the Tourism Minister’s Young Achiever.

From academic and cleaner respectively, both women have forged formidable careers and have been recognised as trailblazers for their attitudes and achievements.

Margaret’s journey to the respected title started in 2003 when she and her husband, Alan, moved to Tasmania to “retire” from careers as academics – Margaret had been involved in education and Alan was a microbiologist.

“Ha, ha!” Margaret says, laughing at her efforts to withdraw from work.

The couple relocated from Victoria and bought waterfront land at Coles Bay – in the area locals refer to as Hazard’s View. Tasmanian architect Leigh Woolley designed and supervised construction of their new home with a custom built guest wing containing three ensuite bedrooms for six people – Sheoaks on Freycinet was born.

The business was one of Tasmania’s first premium hosted accommodation offerings and over 17 years in operation it won four Tasmanian Tourism Awards, entered the Tasmanian Tourism Awards Hall of Fame in 2013, and claimed a Bronze in the Qantas Australian Tourism Awards.

“It’s been hard work but we have thoroughly enjoyed it,” Margaret explains.

“We thought if we’d like to go and stay somewhere like that then others would want to too.

“Before we moved to Tassie we went to a four-session course over a weekend at the Melbourne College of Adult Education titled ‘So you want to run a B&B’.

“The first session started with 200 people and by the end there were only 25 people remaining because most had realised there was more to it than they imagined.”

From day one Sheaoks operated above 70 per cent occupancy, with Margaret crediting that success to a comprehensive website and personalised service.

“One thing we included on the website was our tariffs which I think is really important.

I’m astonished by the number of places that don’t say price and it is so irritating.

“Who am I to tell them to include it though – I’m a rank amateur. But we thought it was common sense.

“We also included details of how to get there from various parts of the state. Before people arrived we formally directed them to the activities page on our website and sent them an envelope in old fashioned snail mail with brochures to promote things in the area so people could allocate their spending money appropriately before they got here.”

“Not only did that help other businesses but it often actually led to them ringing and booking another night so they could fit in everything they wanted to do.”

It is that sense of community that has led to the high esteem in which Margaret is held within the industry.

She was a board Member and Chair of the Freycinet Coast Tourism Partnership, a Member of the East Coast Tourism Industry Advisory Group, and a Foundation Board Member of the East Coast Regional Tourism Organisation.

Margaret also has served as Tasmania’s only board member of ‘Hosted Accommodation Australia’ and represented the sector on the Board of the Tourism Industry Council Tasmamnia.

To achieve success in those roles, she credits her husband and his efforts in the business when she was off elsewhere.

“We were very much a partnership,” Margaret recalls. “Physically it was very tiring. We are now in our late 70s so we are not spring chickens. It was seven days a week most of the time. We provided a cooked

breakfast with a lot of choices from 8am and we also offered a three-course evening meal which people would order in advance. Sometimes those evening meals would turn into jolly occasions with everyone getting to know each other and having fun and we wouldn’t get to bed ’til after 11pm.

“But we really met some lovely people.”

Margaret has finally retired after selling the property last year and she and Alan are building a new home at Midway Point. Being a Tourism Champion was not on her radar.

Margaret Morgan - 2020 Tasmanian Tourism Champion

“I still don’t think of myself as a tourism person. I certainly never thought someone like me would be awarded. It was a lovely surprise.”

Another woman surprised by the celebration of their success at the Tourism Industry Council of Tasmania awards, is thirtythree year old Amanda Sansom. Since 2008 she’s been working her way up the ranks to become one of the first females to captain a vessel at Gordon River Cruises.

Unlike Margaret, the Hobartnative has always known tourism would be her calling.

“I studied Tourism in year 11 at Rosny College and decided that is where I wanted to pursue a career and completed the VET Tourism course in year 12,” Amanda explains.

She started working in Strahan in 2008 and her first role at the cruise company was as a casual cleaner. Amanda quickly progressed to Galley Attendant and Premier Upper Deck Host before becoming a Team Leader and in 2019 became the holder of a Master 5 ticket which allows her to captain vessels under 24m.

“I love my job. I have one of the best jobs in the world,” Amanda professes.

“I love that every day is different, it never seems the same. I get to see some of the most amazing scenery every day and I never tire of it. I get to meet people from all over the world and share my love of the West Coast with them.”

Amanda was destined to work on the water. Her immediate

and extended family are Tasmanian Rock Lobster fishermen and she worked with her father as a deckhand to earn enough money to buy her first car when she was 16.

“I have always loved being on the water and boats, so naturally this job is perfect for me,” she says.

“Coming from a family of commercial fisherman, the transition to working on the boat was a natural one.

“I think my family inspire me the most. I was taught to never be complacent and to always strive for improvement. They have always been supportive of my choices and decisions.

Margaret Morgan - 2020 Tasmanian Tourism Champion

She says she’s humbled to achieve the recognition.

“I was very surprised to win the award, there are people doing some incredible things out there. I have been at previous awards nights and seen the amazing people who have won this award and never imagined it was something I’d be in the running to receive.

“Hopefully winning this award has shown that anything is possible if you are willing and motivated to put in the hard work.

“I think the biggest challenge is the stereotype of females being Captains. Unfortunately, gender perceptions are still out there but I feel this makes me more determined to succeed.”

Far from riding the wave of success, she’s bunkering down to steer herself in the direction of her dream job – finishing her Master 4 ticket for a vessel under 35m and becoming a fulltime Captain at Gordon River Cruises.

“My best advice would be that if it’s something you want to do, never give up trying. Take every opportunity that is given to you and do not be bound by gender perceptions,” she says.

“RACT and Gordon River Cruises Management and Captains have also supported me along the way to achieve my goal of becoming a captain. Without the mentoring and support I would not be doing what I do today.”

Amanda Sansom - The Tourism Minister’s Young Achiever 2020

Amanda Sansom - The Tourism Minister’s Young Achiever 2020

TOURISM TASMANIA: DRIVING DEMAND FROM NEW ZEALAND

On January 17 we re-entered the New Zealand market with our ‘Come Down for Air’ campaign to build awareness for Tasmania and to show our Kiwi friends how we are a very different Australian destination. We were last in the New Zealand market with significant activity in 2013 and the destination reemerged as a market of interest to target around 18 months ago, with growing demand and visitation identified and the potential of a direct flight boosting the market opportunity. While we had to put our plans on hold when the pandemic struck, the New Zealand opportunity is more relevant than ever as the most immediate international destination likely to be available to us.

Tasmania is often compared to New Zealand as islands that share a breathtakingly beautiful natural environment and a history of being left off the map. So how do we convince New Zealanders that Tasmania offers a different experience to travel within their own country and the rest of Australia? Yes we have a similar natural beauty (although the diversity you experience in Tasmania is in closer proximity), however it’s our Aboriginal, European and convict heritage, our wildlife, our creative spirit delivered through our arts and events, as well as our experiences and artisanal produce that offers New Zealanders something different.

This was confirmed when we undertook market research and tested our brand platform ‘Come Down for Air’ to really understand how we could best present Tasmania. We found that the New Zealand market has limited knowledge of the broad range of experiences Tasmania has to offer so our marketing needs to create awareness as well as to educate. Whilst New Zealanders see many similarities between Tasmania and their homeland, they are curious to meet our wildlife, experience our history and heritage, walk our tracks and enjoy our food and beverage.

Our campaign has been designed to grab attention and showcase Tasmania’s distinctiveness from other Australian or New Zealand destinations. It launched with a 36-hour mass media takeover in the largest city, Auckland designed for a Tassie ‘road-block’ of a number of channels simultaneously. It commenced with filling Sunday night prime time viewing with our television ads running in David Attenborough’s A Perfect Planet on TVNZ as well as other high-profile spots. The next morning Auckland woke up to the front page of the NZ Herald wrapped in Tasmanian imagery with Come Down for Air advertisements on digital billboards in high traffic areas around the city, as well as experiencing our ads across radio, digital and social channels.

The campaign will take a phased approach until June 30, aimed at creating strong consumer awareness and will include strong content partnerships and conversion activity as well as an integrated channel approach across TV, radio, digital, social and cinema advertising.

The campaign will also help prepare the market for direct flights between the two destinations with airline negotiations and associated arrangements progressing well and close to finalisation; making it quicker and easier for New Zealanders to visit Tasmania.

You can get involved by targeting Kiwi’s via your own social media channels, registering your product or experience with key New Zealand distribution partners such as House of Travel, Helloworld or Flight Centre and ensuring your ATDW listing is up to date.

A dedicated microsite has been developed www. discovertasmania.com.au/nz

Back on this side of the ditch we are also in full campaign mode with the next phase of our interstate campaign, which kicked-off in mid-January. The campaign is designed to keep Tasmania top of mind and will transition into the launch of our touring strategy in early February. We also have a number of co-operative marketing campaigns in market with trade and access partners. Our campaign has been designed to be flexible so we can respond to the changing situations in our key domestic markets. Our intrastate campaign is also still in market and we continue to adjust the focus based on demand stimulation needs.

Even though we are in full flight in summer and our current campaigns, we have also started planning our winter program to ensure we have a cooler season proposition for our audiences to continue to build demand for travel to the state.

We will be out on the road in February to provide an update on the winter program, so make sure you are subscribed to our Tourism Talk e-newsletter for updates and more information.

Emma Terry Chief Marketing Officer, Tourism Tasmania

WHAT COMES UP TAKES A LITTLE SAUTÉING TO GO DOWN

TOURISM FACES: SPOTTED AT TICT CONFERENCE

Over 450 tourism operators and industry stakeholders gathered together for a very different Tasmanian tourism conference.

Held over two cities across two days, delegates were briefed on our tourism recovery from COVID, considered the future of our industry through the 2020s, and found time for plenty of networking and vertical drinking at two stellar evening events held at Josef Chromy Wines and Frogmore Creek.

TOURISM FACES: SPOTTED AT TICT CONFERENCE

TICT PARTNERS SUPPORTING TASMANIA’S TOURISM & HOSPITALITY INDUSTRY

Tourism Tasmania

Tasmanian Travel Guides

Tourism operators have been among the hardest hit by Coronavirus. TasWater offers a rebate to eligible small businesses on their water and sewerage bills issued between 1 April and 30 June 2020.

It was automatically applied to businesses on electricity tariffs 22, 94, 82, or 75 – so far we have helped more than 7,000 small businesses like yours.

If your account didn’t receive the rebate and you believe you are eligible, please get in touch with us.

We’ve also expanded the ways we can help if you’re experiencing financial difficulties. We will work with you to create a flexible solution that meets your individual needs — whether it is for the short or long-term.

If you find you’re having trouble paying your bill, please contact us. Visit