TICT Quarterly Edition 5 - Autumn 2021

QUARTERLY

AUTUMN | 2021 | EDITION 5

AUTUMN | 2021 | ISSUE 5

TOURISM INDUSTRY COUNCIL TASMANIA

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THE SHOW MUST GO ON

FUTURE FOOTPRINT: THE ECONOMICS OF CARBON NEUTRALITY

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TIME TO SHINE: THE RETURN OF A REVITALISED TOURISM AWARDS

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WINTER WARRIORS: CHAMPIONING TASMANIA’S BEST SIDE DURING WINTER 1

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WELCOME: From the Editor

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WELCOME: From the TICT

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IN FOCUS: The post-COVID challenge of restarting events

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POLICY WATCH: Tasmania’s opportunity to champion a carbon neutral tourism industry

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SKILL SET: Become a tourism ambassador to improve visitor experiences

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SKILL SET: They’re back! All the details on the Tasmanian Tourism Awards

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TOURISM TASMANIA: Embrace being a winter warrior as part of the new season’s marketing campaign

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TOURISM PROFILE: One-on-one with new TICT director Tim Parsons

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MENTAL HEALTH: Why you should be taking time out to focus on your mental health

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TOURISM FACES: Who did we spot at the Women’s Collective Luncheon?

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CONTENTS:

Cover page image: Vibestown Festival Director Jesse Higgs rocks out at the Basin-ish Concert with his band The Holiday Collective. Photo credit: Jesse Hunniford

To advertise in the next TICT Quarterly or for editorial enquiries contact info@tict.com.au 1

The Podcast Series for Tasmanian tourism operators and industry professionals.

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

Listen in the car, at the desk, in the shower, walking the dog…

Wherever and whenever suits you.

Best of all, they’re 100% FREE Stream from www.tict.com.au Or search for ‘Talking Tourism’ wherever you get your Podcasts.

Talking Tourism is an initiative of

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WELCOME: FROM THE EDITOR

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elcome to the latest instalment of TICT Quarterly, as we start to feel the fresh cooler breeze on our cheeks and the crunch of golden leaves under feet.

Autumn is settling in after the most glorious Easter break - who else took a dip in the ocean under sun-filled skies? Refreshing for the soul indeed!

The change in seasons does evoke the expression of time flying fast and that’s reflected in the amount of activity underway in the sector, with this edition of the magazine a case in point.

It’s full of interesting information and important insights as the industry continues to push boundaries and rebuild with true Tassie grit and innovation.

And whether its marathons or music festivals, events are re-emerging after COVID cancellations. We spoke with event organisers about the emotional and financial risks and rewards associated with staging events again and they give some insights into what they’ve learned about COVID compliance.

With the government’s intention to make Tasmania a carbon neutral visitor destination by 2025, TICT CEO Luke Martin takes a comprehensive look at why we should be aspirational and together transform the state into a global leader admired and applauded for our sustainable and responsible tourism. It will be a complex challenge to match the economics with the emotion.

We have been made acutely aware of the very real mental health challenges that have faced many operators during the depths of COVID closures, but have you actually taken the time to pause and reflect yourself?

The issue is in the spotlight this edition, with the hope that together we can overcome the pressures and pains that lead to the deterioration of our mental wellbeing.

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Perhaps the most exciting news, especially for those who have missed dressing up, is the return of the Tasmanian Tourism Awards. Don’t miss all the details of the revamped program to celebrate our resilient and respected tourism leaders.

And get ready to welcome the cold, with another mystical and marvellous tourism marketing campaign to entice tourists to visit the island in the depths of winter.

We hope you enjoy the read and we welcome your feedback and ideas for future editions.

Rachel Williams, Millwood Media, Editor

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WELCOME: FROM THE TICT

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ast month, TICT held its Annual General Meeting, prompting our board to look back on an extraordinary 12 months for our industry and organisation.

I am so proud of how our sector has responded to the most difficult of circumstances over the past year and the resilience we have shown as an industry, and how we have worked together at all levels of the industry and across the State.

As TICT Chair, I am also very proud of our organisation’s achievements and leadership over the past year and the considerable outcomes we have achieved for our operators.

As a board, the TICT directors met frequently through 2020 in person and on Zoom. Despite each of us dealing with our own stresses and uncertainties in our own businesses and organisations, we managed to come together regularly through the year to shape our industry response to COVID. 4

In the very depths of last year’s shutdown, we worked constructively with State and Federal Governments in identifying the immediate needs for industry assistance and helping to shape the different support packages Governments made available. I want to particularly acknowledge the Tasmanian Government for its responsiveness over that difficult time in rolling-out assistance to businesses quickly and compassionately.

We also worked strategically with the Tasmanian Government in developing the new T21 Tasmanian Visitor Economy Action Plan, to set a strategic blueprint for rebuilding our tourism industry over the next two years.

I am pleased to see the T21 priorities really starting to rollout now, and the commitment from both industry and government to not just get us back to where we were before COVID, but also lay the foundations for our industry’s future over the next decade.

TICT prioritised and lobbied for the extension of the Bass Strait Passenger Vehicle Equalisation Scheme and the ‘Free Car Fares’ that have filled the Spirits up over the autumn months.

This has been an amazing success and we hope the extension will be now continued through winter.

While in the last few months we have advocated strongly to see a resolution to the uncertainty about the future of Bass Strait. We warmly welcomed the State Government’s announcement in March that it will proceed with commissioning two new purpose-built and forty percent larger monohull ships to replace the ageing Spirit of Tasmania ships.

We have been working constantly with government to look at what can be done around rental cars, held some great industry events, and perhaps most importantly, provided a strong and steady voice for the industry during a period of tremendous uncertainty.

While we know some businesses are doing better than they were expecting and have had a reasonable summer, there are many operators who are not recovering as strongly. Especially those tourism businesses reliant upon international visitors. TICT will continue through 2021 to give voice to our industry colleagues who need support and are struggling through no fault of their own.

New TICT Leadership At the AGM I had the honour to be re-elected Chair of the TICT Board for a further two-years.

Joining me in our TICT leadership team are two new Deputy Chairs, Tara Howell and Robert Pennicott. Tara and Rob are both outstanding leaders of our industry, and successful nature tourism entrepreneurs who live the creed of sustainability and quality in all they do. They are already leaders of the industry and I look forward to working with them.

Our former Co-Deputy Chair, Clint Walker, has stepped into the critical Financial Director role, while Kath McCann, has retired from the board after a decade of service to our organisation.

At the AGM we also saw four new directors elected to the board for the first time: Olivia DeGroot (State Manager of Qantas), Bianca Welsh (Operator of Stillwater), Tim Parsons (Operator of Curinga Farm, but representing ATEC), and Emily Hopwood

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(representing Women in Tourism & Hospitality Tasmania).

I am proud of the increasing diversity of the TICT board, by age, gender and regional representation. We need to continue to foster leadership at all levels of the industry and the TICT board is an important vehicle for this.

State Election By the time you are reading this, I suspect the 2021 Tasmanian State Election will have either been run and won, or you are preparing to cast your vote.

Either way I hope you will see that tourism has featured prominently throughout the campaign, with both major parties presenting comprehensive and practical tourism policies.

TICT presented a list of our priorities to both major parties in early April.

These priorities would come as no surprise to any Tasmanian tourism operator - more resources for Tourism Tasmania for destination marketing, investment in priority visitor infrastructure across the State, workforce development and skills and ensuring industry and government keep working strategically to grow Tasmania’s visitor economy.

I am confident whatever the election result, tourism will be well placed with the next Government and we will continue to work together to progress our T21 priorities and build an even stronger Tasmanian tourism industry through the 2020s.

Daniel Leesong Chair – Tourism Industry Council Tasmania 5

IN FOCUS: THE POST-COVID CHALLENGE OF RESTARTING EVENTS

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rom the heartaches and headaches of cancelling large-scale events during the 2020 COVID pandemic, Tasmanian promotors and planners are adjusting to a new way of organising events.

Whether its marathons or music festivals, events are reemerging.

The festival organisers managed to conduct one of the last large-scale events before COVID struck - Party in the Paddock and have also become one of the first to return live music to the masses.

“The original vision of everyone comfortably spread out on picnic blankets and even after meeting the original square metre coverage requirements, was deemed unsafe and too complex for the event site and the amount of patrons that we had already coming - this also included strictly no dancing. We would have had to compromise the integrity of the event to continue it at the Basin, our only options were to postpone, cancel or continue on at another location. After reaching out to our audience with the question, the overwhelming consensus was that the show must go on.”

Festival Director Jesse Higgs says while they couldn’t manage to stage a New Year’s Eve event as they’d hoped, they thought their fortunes had changed with the rebirth of Launceston’s iconic Basin Concert.

At an extra cost of close to $100,000, Vibestown managed the “logistical nightmare” of relocating the event within the space of a week to Inveresk and rebadging it the Basin-ish Concert.

For months they worked with the Department of Public Health on a COVID plan for the music festival at Cataract Gorge in late March.

In an ironic twist, the COVID regulations actually ensured the Basin-ish Concert went ahead.

Had it remained at the Basin, the event would have been flooded out after torrential rain caused flooding of the South Esk River.

But the “new normal” of event organising involves amplified risks, both financially and physically, and it’s taking some getting used to, with clear communication becoming an even bigger necessity and paramount for success.

The “show must go on” if the crew from Vibestown have anything to do with it.

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“It was two weeks out and we still didn’t have approval despite the on-going conversation for months. Their decision was based upon their concern of the complexity of the Basin site.

With the updated restrictions, everyone would have had to be seated on chairs, even on uneven and hilly ground, given the lay of the land,” Jesse explains.

The East Coast Harvest Odyssey 2021 was not so lucky, it had to postpone after the weather event caused flooding across the ECHO Festival’s Cranbrook site.

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Photo credit: Cameron Jones Visuals

But organiser Angela Boxhall is not going to let Tassie’s fickle weather stop her from curating and delivering a program of boutique experiences after the disappointment of cancelling for COVID. The rescheduled event is due to take place as we go to print from April 23-25.

Ange recalls the heartbreak of cancelling the 2020 version just two weeks before it was scheduled to take place.

“I felt the social responsibility to everyone involved in ECHO and to our patrons. Of course this meant that everyone lost out - the artists, the food suppliers, the patrons, everyone. I had no choice and it was heartbreaking,” Ange remembers.

While it’s always been a boutique festival, ECHO 2021 will look different to previous years, running over two nights instead of one to comply with social distancing restrictions.

“I had to think quite differently regarding programming - how to roll out concepts safely but effectively and from an artistic

viewpoint,” Ange says.

“An example of this is the Womb Room. In 2020 this was planned to be coined the world’s largest adult afternoon nap! We were to have a (slightly) naughty bedtime story read and a big siesta - a chance to take some time out and refresh for the evening’s activities.

“Now it will have a capacity of just 10 people at a time and is focused on senses - touch, smell and sound.

“We have engaged artists to create sensory pieces for the audience to gently enter a soft pink space and lose themselves for ten minutes. Beautiful and immersive yet very COVID safe.”

Jesse believes Vibestown was a test-case for Public Health when it came to crowd control. They had to manage the allowance of only 250 people out of the crowd of 3500 to dance at once, with Public Health officials on site during the festival.

“It was a confusing message to convey to the audience and we tried to communicate as best we could, but at the end

of night one, with one of our headline acts on stage, it started raining and everyone went a little ‘festival crazy’ and we lost control of the crowd for a song or two. We had to ask for no more dancing for the rest of the night or we would have had to cancel the event. Everyone took it really well considering.

“On the second day we were able to introduce our contingency plan of dance zones. Within our four seated area zones, we had another four enclosed dance zones, with the 250 people dance capacity spread throughout the venue evenly within the four areas. It worked great and we were able to have people share the fun with a rotation system managed via our brilliant COVID marshalls.

“The whole situation was very surreal, but a great success in the end.”

Weighing up the risks and rewards for staging an event is an even bigger challenge for organisers now, they say.

“There will always be risks involved in events, particularly outdoors. This is not an industry 7

nationally was the biggest mass participation sporting event to proceed.

The decision for Race Director Richard Welsh to go ahead late last year was driven by the desire of average participants to enjoy a fun run as well as elite athletes desperate to compete given the cancellation of all major International competition.

Financial futures were also at stake.

“Our industry was and still is on its knees,” Richard says.

Richard Welsh With Half Marathon Winners Brett Robinson and Andrea Seccafien

for the faint-hearted. Of course COVID-19 has amplified the risks in every way,” Ange says.

“Everything has cost more, from marketing awareness and materials to engaging artists and presenters for longer durations and more sessions. More time has gone into planning and programming too.

“The physical costs are also greater in staffing to maintain social distancing, cleaning spaces, hand sanitiser and so on.

“The rewards will always come from bringing community and artists together, to showcase the region that you feel is so special. Creating a platform for fun times, sharing what you love whilst gently educating people means a lot to me.”

Adds Jesse: “It’s very important for the moral and happiness of our community and the influx of financial gain into our economy that this undervalued industry continues.”

The Tasmanian culture of being “last-minute” ticket purchasers 8

at the best of times, is further highlighted in the current climate.

“COVID-19 has made it very difficult to plan and prepare,” Ange says.

“People have lost confidence in committing to attending.

This is certainly detrimental to events planning and execution.

Small events do not have the financial support and larger events are at a high financial risk.

Without the assistance of Events Tasmania, ECHO Festival would not have been able to continue throughout COVID-19.”

The split of ticket holders for ECHO this year is around 85% local and 15% interstate, with Ange suggesting it wise to focus on the safety-net of locals rather than risking losing ticket sales due to last-minute flight cancellations.

“It’s difficult to find the balance,” she admits.

For Epic Events and Marketing, the Launceston Running Festival was one of the biggest events post-COVID to proceed and

“Epic Events and Marketing is a small Tasmanian business and we rely on events like this to continue, but so do all the suppliers. From the people who do our timing to signage, road closures, equipment hire - it’s the whole ecosystem of people who regularly work on these events at they all needed to earn something.”

“Our business actually bought the event from Sydney-based Pont3 at the start of 2020, so we were already down to begin with, having paid for the event.

“We just re-scheduled it for the last weekend possible in the year and hoped for the best, which happened. We had 80 or so coming from Sydney and if we were a few days later, the Northern Beaches break-out would have hampered that.”

The event will return on June 13 after the one-off Summer scheduling. Epic has also since organised the Tasmanian Christmas Carnival series, Hobart Run The Bridge and The Easter Marathon.

Despite thousands of people pounding the pavement at once, Richard says the feedback from participants around safety has been fantastic.

Extra planning needs to be taken into consideration by event organisers, with the Launceston race taking an extra 300 hours of planning to meet COVID requirements, he says.

But it’s better than the alternative of not having events, Richard says.

“The Tasmanian Government has developed their three tiered framework for the events industry and so it’s on event organisers to make sure they can deliver events within that framework and demonstrate to government agencies that all steps are being taken to organise events within the framework.

“Work with Government authorities and be understanding,” he advises.

“Everyone is new to this and there is no precedent for managing events during a pandemic, so everyone from policy setters, to bureaucrats, organisers, volunteers and patrons are learning.”

Jesse agrees.

“Everyone is making it up as they go at the moment and I’d advise for anyone planning

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“Our post event survey showed that 84.9% of participants felt completely safe and the remainder only had minor issues with their safety at the event. That’s really important to us, as we were the first of hopefully many events to return, so it was imperative that we lead the way safely so governments can feel confident about our industry and participants will continue to enter these great events.”

events, Public Health should be some of the first people you are interacting with to get your COVID plan approved, before announcing your event,” Jesse advises.

“We are conscious that we have a vulnerable population and how dangerous COVID has been for other places, but at the same time it’s important not to allow a very important industry for the state’s economy to be crippled.

Tasmania is internationally renowned for its art and culture and our little island has been attracting large scale attention for it’s brilliant work within the arts industry. It’s really important that this industry can be supported through a really tough time, as we still need to be progressive and continue to build culture as this island clearly has a talent for it.

“We will look to this summer and if the restrictions ease, then we will be aiming to have The Basin Concert back at The Basin. Otherwise we are prepared to pivot and will do our best to continue to provide our community with the best events that we can manage to produce in these tricky times, as the show must go on.”

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POLICY WATCH: TASMANIA’S OPPORTUNITY TO CHAMPION A CARBON NEUTRAL TOURISM INDUSTRY

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ere is an inconvenient truth: civil aviation is responsible for 2 per cent of global carbon emissions.

In the scheme of things, this might sound like a relatively small number until you consider that only 5 per cent of the world’s population can afford to travel by air.

A return flight between London and Sydney can emit greenhouse gases equivalent to 3 tonnes of CO2 per person.

This is more than most human’s entire carbon footprint for a year.

Before COVID, the tourism industry across the globe was confronting our own inherent conflict between our love of earth and the hard reality that we do constitute one of the most carbon-dense forms of human activity.

Values and expectations on our industry have been changing rapidly with the spotlight on what different sectors of the travel industry and individual destinations are doing to mitigate their contribution to the global climate emergency.

This is not just a question of science and conservation but also increasingly a commercial one.

The travelling public are, more than ever, making consumer decisions based on their aspirations for responsible travel.

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Across the globe we are seeing examples of where carbon-responsible travel is being driven by consumers.

In 2018, the ‘Flygskam’ movement (literally meaning ‘flight shame’), was powered by social media and Greta Thunberg and over the course of a few months, managed to slow, and then reverse into decline, Sweden’s previous exponential annual growth in air travel.

Across Europe, demand for sleeper trains is growing for the first time in decades, with the EU scrambling to re-establish overnight commuter services between major population centres long thought to have been consigned to history, and the modernity of budget air travel.

Airlines are responding to this trend by bringing forward their own carbon neutrality targets and investing in low-emission technology. Qantas is leading the way on this front with its commitment to be a zeroemission airline by 2050.

The world’s largest hotel operator, Marriott, has set itself a target to reduce its global carbon intensity by 30 per cent in the next five years.

While Airbnb in the US has started actively marketing the comparable emission output of staying with one of their hosts compared to a traditional hotel.

The message is clear; there is a fast and permanent shift occurring in the global travel market towards carbon sustainability that is only likely to accelerate as global travel recovers from COVID.

On the Edge of Lake Pedder Photo credit: Stu Gibson

The opportunity for Tasmania is to be at the very front of this global movement.

In his State of the State speech before calling the State Election, Premier Peter Gutwein announced a target for Tasmania to be a carbon neutral visitor destination by 2025. This is a key priority determined by industry and the Tasmanian government through our T21 Tasmanian Visitor Economy Action Plan for how we want our industry to grow over the next decade.

It will make Tasmania one of the very first visitor destinations on the planet working towards offsetting the carbon emissions of visitors to our islands by investing in carbon generating activities such as reforestation.

We are only able to set such a target because of our renewable energy base, meaning our emissions are already very low compared to other destinations.

In a post-Carbon world, our renewable energy base will continue to be a massive competitive advantage for Tasmania that tourism can also leverage.

But achieving the vision of a carbon neutral destination will not be easy and will require a lot of investment and commitment by industry and government over the coming years.

We firstly need to agree on a financial model to cover the cost of offsetting visitors’ emissions while they are in the state.

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How many of our visitors might be willing to pay a few dollars to ‘offset’ their stay in Tasmania, and how could these funds be raised?

We know today there are many fantastic Tasmanian tourism operators already carbon neutral, or who are investing significant money to reduce their own carbon footprint.

What can be done to encourage and incentivise more tourism operators to join them, and how do we recognise and celebrate those businesses who are leading the way in carbon responsible tourism?

We also need to rapidly expand our capacity to off-set carbon within our state.

The reality is, if we wanted to be a carbon neutral destination right now, we would not have the capacity within Tasmania to sufficiently offset visitor’s emissions.

There is a big challenge and opportunity for Tasmania to position itself as Australia’s carbon bank, creating jobs in conservation and land management, but that is a discussion well beyond the remit of our tourism industry.

We also need to balance the genuine aspirations for our industry to emerge over coming years as a global example of truly sustainable and responsible tourism, with the daily commercial realities for our operators coming out of COVID and the disruptions many are still experiencing.

Ultimately how we respond to these challenges over coming months and years will determine where Tasmania finds itself in the era of carbon responsible tourism.

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SKILL SET: BECOME A TOURISM AMBASSADOR TO IMPROVE VISITOR EXPERIENCES

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he Tassie Tourism Ambassador Program is gearing up to launch this year, to help people working either directly in the tourism industry or on the periphery, to improve their ability to offer a great visitor experience.

WHY DO WE NEED AN AMBASSADOR PROGRAM? With millions of dollars spent on marketing destinations and branding to generate demand, the actual visitor experience is left to the individual tourism operator. This program will enable operators and their staff to learn the basics of the tourism industry and how to offer a great Tassie welcome.

ABOUT THE COURSE Local tourism professionals present easy-to-follow tips and knowledge in short video segments in this online course.

A few quick quiz questions will test understanding after each video.

The course is FREE, consisting of four modules: 1. Understanding the tourism industry – Sam Denmead 2. Knowing your destination – tailored content specific to the destination 3. Telling amazing stories – Todd Babiak 4. Ways to exceed visitor expectations – Matt Casey As long as you have the internet, you can complete the

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Pumphouse Point Photo credit: Jarrad Seng

course online, at home or in the office, at a pace that suits you.

Allow around two to four hours.

At the end of the course, participants will receive an e-certificate, and be invited to attend a networking event in their destination to receive their lapel badge and meet other ambassadors.

WHO’S IT FOR? It’s designed for everyone working in a role that will encounter a visitor, this might include: • Food and beverage service staff; • Event staff and volunteers; • Accommodation, attraction and tour company employees; • Seasonal workers ; • Students;

• As well as taxi drivers, service station attendants, retail workers, etc.

OTHER BENEFITS OF THE PROGRAM • Aligns with priority 4 in T21: building capability, capacity and community; • Will align to the RTO’s vision of the region through their Destination Management Plan and to community and economic development plans at local council level; • A shared vision will unite front-line workers and staff; • Builds regional collaboration by working together and sharing consistent messaging; • Aids business in talent identification and development;

Bangor Vineyard Shed (previously known as Bangor Wine & Oyster Shed) Photo credit: Tourism Tasmania

• Shared learnings, updates and developments via online support groups; • Strengthens the profile and image of the area to impress business events and conventions; inbound tourism operators; and private investors.

Our first destination to launch will be the West Coast followed

by Launceston. Up to 20 destinations will be available when the program rolls out during 2021.

The more people who complete the course and wear the badge, the more it will become a talking point and encourage visitors to engage and have an amazing experience from those that have the capacity to deliver it. We hope you’ll get on board with your staff when your destination comes online.

Visit www.tassietourismam bassador.com.au to sign up or register your interest.

Sam Denmead Tourism and marketing consultant – Green Hat Tourism

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We know that when visitors are greeted at every touchpoint during their stay with a warm welcome and genuine interaction, they will have a positive experience. Positive experiences lead to loyal advocates and rave reviews which builds awareness of a destination and motivates consumers to travel. Ultimately this program will help to increase the number of visitors and boost our economy creating more sustainable businesses and employment.

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SKILL SET: THEY’RE BACK! ALL THE DETAILS ON THE TASMANIAN TOURISM AWARDS

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he Tasmanian Tourism Awards are back in 2021 with a fresh new look, a new trophy and a new purpose.

“The two-year qualifying period means entrants are being asked to share their own COVID story,” Ms Denmead says.

With the National Australian Tourism Awards program not running in 2020, changes have been made to the awards program to ensure entrants are being judged on their resilience, innovation, and successes over an extraordinary two year period for the industry.

“What was their business strategy prior to COVID hitting in March? What strategies did they apply to get through 2020? What are they doing now to set themselves up for the recovery?

“The Tourism Awards have always been about setting a benchmark in Australian tourism for excellence in business and tourism practices,’ explains Tasmanian Tourism Awards mentor, Sam Denmead.

“With COVID, success in tourism needs to be looked at differently, and this year’s awards are all about recognising those operators who have been innovative through the disruptions and are successful in coming out the other side with even stronger and more resilient businesses.”

Significant temporary changes have been made to the awards for this awards period only.

Ms Denmead says the most significant differences with the program will be the qualifying period covering two years, from July 2019 to June 2021, and a reduction in the word length of entries.

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“Across the industry there are so many great examples of businesses who were innovative through 2020, some pursuing the intrastate market for the first time and resetting their marketing strategy as borders re-opened.

“The reduced word count is designed to make it more practical and easier for operators to enter, especially first-time entrants.”

Ms Denmead says another positive change this year is the inclusion of a consumer rating component to the judging process.

“For the first time every entrant will have their consumer review and rating considered in the judging process alongside their submitted entry and a site visit. These consumer ratings will be based on all online ratings and reviews about their product across 180 travel review sites and social media through their ReviewPro score.

I think this is a really positive enhancement to the whole Awards program in giving our customers a say in the judging process.

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All Tasmanian Tourism Award winners this year will take home a new-look ‘Weindorfer’ Trophy.

TICT has commissioned the bespoke trophy, which has been designed by Taroonabased artist and designer, Alex Miles.

TICT CEO Luke Martin says Ms Miles’ striking trophy design continues a tradition established by legendary Tasmanian artist, Tom Samek.

“Tom has produced our trophies by hand over the past six years and I know every winner has appreciated the opportunity to not only take home an award, but also their own unique Tom Samek artwork,” Mr Martin says.

“Tom advised me a couple of years ago he would be unable to continue to produce the trophies. We talked through the option of licensing his design and finding another way to produce the trophies, or putting out the opportunity for another Tasmanian artist to offer their own design.

“To Tom’s credit he enthusiastically embraced the idea of running a design competition to give other Tasmanian artists the chance to pitch for the project.

“Arts Tasmania ran a public design competition for us that generated 15 different entries, before we ultimately selected Alex’ as the winner.”

Alex Miles’ New Weindorfer Trophy

Alex’s design picks up on the inspiration for Tom Samek’s design and the native Tasmanian flora used

by Gustav Weindorfer in his construction of Waldheim.

“Gustav and Kate Weindorfer are the inspiration for our Awards program as the original Tasmanian nature tourism pioneers with their Waldheim cottage at Cradle Mountain,” Mr Martin explains.

“Alex has paid tribute to the native landscape and flora that is synonymous with our tourism industry, while creating a striking trophy that any tourism operator business would be proud to display.”

For more information on the Tasmanian Tourism Awards program and to begin your nomination visit www.tict.com.au

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TOURISM TASMANIA: EMBRACE BEING A WINTER WARRIOR AS PART OF THE NEW SEASON’S MARKETING CAMPAIGN

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ith Easter now behind us (and what an Easter it was!) we turn our attention to the cooler months and to an underrated yet magical time of the year in Tasmania.

Winter does not get the credit it deserves as a season in our summer-loving country, this may be due to the fact that in Australia our winters don’t get as cold as those in the Northern Hemisphere, so we tend not to get winter right, which is a shame as it has so much to offer, and in Tasmania it’s when we are our most distinct.

To grow a sustainable visitor economy, we need to reduce the extremes of seasonality by embracing all our seasons and offering something truly different in winter than can be experienced any other time of year. After all, the light is different, the water is clearer, the oysters more plump, the southern lights more prominent and the days are crisp. It’s also when our creative and adventurous side comes out to play.

When we launched Come down for Air, the aspiration was to play like a culture brand not like a traditional tourism brand, enabling us to tap into a deeper psyche and position Tasmania as more than just another holiday destination, rather a place where you can feel more human. Winter delivers that in spades.

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The Off Season is our invitation for visitors to enjoy all that a winter in Tasmania has to offer.

It’s a play on words that can achieve for Tasmania what Australia Day has done for lamb, that is, to embed in the Australian psyche and culture that a Tasmanian winter is a must-do experience.

In the lead up to our winter campaign launch, we have been working with operators to present a consolidated and whole-state approach, which will help build a compelling reason to chase winter not summer.

We also think The Off Season has legs and are really excited about it being a concept we can collectively build on year after year and importantly allows us to smooth out traditional seasonality and encourage strong visitation all year round.

The strategy for this year is to launch The Off Season and embed the concept for industry, Tasmanians and mainland Australia. We are competing in a cluttered destination marketing environment at the moment, with amazing deals, flights and offers in the market which are hard to beat.

We need to challenge the status quo and drive a strategy and program that cuts through this noise and entice visitation to Tasmania rather than the sunny tropics. To do this we need to be bold, distinct and use some unconventional marketing techniques.

A collective Tasmanian voice rallying around The Off Season will help the message cut through and build greater meaning and connection.

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Having our industry connected into The Off Season is a win, win, win. It allows us to amplify the message and provide different story angles that can connect with potential customers and cut through busy advertising messages. For our industry, it’s an opportunity to connect more closely with our work, leverage our investments and provide visitors with a totally different experience than they would get in the warmer months.

We want our customers to know that Tasmania offers a unique winter experience they can’t get anywhere else.

WE HAVE FEWER

We have invited operators to share with us their Off Season experiences that we can include through the campaign. These can range from Off Season inspired menu items or special and distinct winter experiences through to quirky or exclusive one-off opportunities. The more compelling, distinct and intriguing the experience we can collectively offer, the more cut through it will have with our visitors and the more buzz we can create.

A collective and shared approach will allow us to stand

greater than the sum of our parts and be more effective at enticing mainlanders to Tasmania this winter. If you have not already submitted an expression of interest in The Off Season and would like to do so please register via our www.tourismtasmania.com. au. The closing date for EOIs is Monday, 24 May. We will be launching The Off Season in the last week in April and will run through to the end of August.

Emma Terry – Chief Marketing Officer Tourism Tasmania 17

TOURISM PROFILE: ONE-ON-ONE WITH CURRINGA FARM’S DIRECTOR TIM PARSONS

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rom managing 3000 sheep to winning three National Tourism Awards with his wife Jane, Tim Parsons is no stranger to hard work and hospitality.

Over more than three decades he has honed his skills and grown the farmstay business his mother pioneered in the early 1980s at Hamilton, north-west of Hobart.

Together with Jane he owns and operates Curringa Farm, a working sheep and cropping farm that operates in conjunction with accommodation, restaurant and farm tour experiences.

He is excited by the opportunity he now has to spread his knowledge as one of the new board directors of the TICT, representing the Australian Tourism Export Council Tasmania Branch.

“I am really looking forward to being involved at a broader, statewide level and playing a more intensive role aside from what I have been doing locally and regionally,” Mr Parsons says.

Mr Parsons was the inaugural chair of the Rivers Run Tourism Association, which is now known as Derwent Valley Tourism Group and says he’s always relished the opportunity to network and engage in local and regional tourism associations, and take advantage of opportunities

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Curringa Farm Photo credit: Tourism Tasmania

presented through Tourism Tasmania for marketing and media advice.

As a member of the Australian Tourism Export Council which represents the country’s $45b tourism export sector, board member of Destination Southern Tasmania and member of the Tasmanian branch of the Australia China Business Council, he is no stranger to representing the industry.

“I will certainly take the sentiments and thoughts from regional operators through Destination Southern Tasmania and now to the TICT with a focus on international access, helping rebuild the inbound tourism market, which has suffered massive hardships, border issues and trade opportunities through the Australia China Business Council,” he says.

It’s the loss of international visitors from the Asian market that has decimated many tourism operators across the state.

Curringa has not been immune, having to transition its marketing toward local visitors to help generate income.

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The farm tour component of Curringa accounts for one third of the enterprise mix and pre-COVID it was experiencing guest numbers of around 10,000 a year. That dropped to “barely a couple of hundred’ after COVID hit.

We transitioned quite well from international to domestic accommodation markets and the B&B is now operating at 60 per cent of pre-COVID which is not enough but it will keep us out of jail.

Previously 80 per cent of farm stay customers were from overseas, with 60 per cent of that from Hong Kong.

“We were one of the first Tasmanian operators to get into the market of mainland China and I have had

10 trips to Asia over the last 14 years to maintain and grow relationships,” he recalls.

that is remembered as one of the first farm-stay businesses in the state.

“It used to be a massive thing for me to get on a plane and go to Melbourne to watch my wool being sold at auction.

Upon marketing tourism internationally I remember visiting Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong and China as a marketer for the first time. It was a fantastic experience.

I knew we had a lot of work to do because we knew the business model had potential to be an amazing attraction.”

Tim and Jane bought the farm in 2002 from Tim’s Parents and the offering now boasts 9 cottages with 16 rooms for guests who are treated to farm tours, a BBQ lunch and sheep shearing demonstrations.

Tim’s parents Sue and John had started to diversify Curringa in the early 1980s to include accommodation on site - a single farm stay “Over the Back Accommodation”

“We have created a product that is very good, honest and safe and its popularity exploded because of word of mouth. Social media portrays us as a very safe first night Tassie stop where you can get off the plane, pick up your hire car and come straight here.

“We had three families of Hong Kong origin who now reside in Sydney staying with 19

us over Easter who came from Hong Kong in 2013 before they had children and they have returned with a tribe of kids to give them an experience of living on a farm which they would never have seen.”

At one stage after initially taking on the farm and tourism business Tim was spending 40 hours a week working on the farm and 40 hours a week on the tourism component.

“But after we won three national tourism awards for hosted accommodation the customers started coming to see Tim and Jane because our personal engagement was very high which is part of our signature product delivery but that meant I had to spend less time on the farm and we are lucky to have an amazing staff base to assist us across the whole business.

“For me I knew I had to diversify our farm because farming alone would not be enough to support the family and the next generation,” he explains.

Mr Parsons is also a current member of the recently formed agritourism reference group informing progress on the T21 Visitor Economy Action Plan 2020-22 agritourism actions.

“Agriculture is still very close to my heart but it has been made difficult by corporatisation and the fickleness of commodity markets. The return on investment for tourism far exceeds the ROI for farming.

“I have been passionate about agritourism for a

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Curringa Farm Photo credit: Tourism Tasmania

long time and am confident that the sector has a bright future. It has traditionally been defined by wineries and hobby farms but there is an amazing collection of diverse properties focussing on things from oysters to lavender to cheese production and for me to be part of a strategy to bring that together and create market opportunities for more agritourism in the state is pretty special.

Our journey has been absolutely amazing and I am really looking forward to giving back to the community more through the TICT.

M

ental health will be front of mind for tourism businesses across the state with operators and their staff being encouraged to take time to look after themselves following the rollercoaster of COVID. A year-long support package is being delivered by the Tourism Industry Council Tasmania, after receiving $100,000 from a $20 million State Government COVID-19 Small Business Sustainability and Recovery Assistance Package.

“As a tourism industry we continue to confront some of the most challenging, disruptive and uncertain market conditions any of us could ever imagine,” TICT CEO Luke Martin says.

“We owe it to ourselves, our families, our staff and colleagues, to prioritise through 2021 our mental and physical well-being, and that of the people around us.”

The first of the TICT’s support elements are already underway, with a Wellbeing and Resilience Roadshow hitting the road - delivering workshops across the state in person and online.

Bianca Welsh and Mitch McPherson from Stay ChatTY. They will challenge, inspire, energise, and up-skill you.

Having face-to-face interactions with owneroperators, employers, management and staff in the tourism sector is something Dr Irons is looking forward to. Details to book your place at different sessions around the state are available via the TICT’s website.

She is pragmatic but compassionate and on page 23 poses a simple question in a short article she has written for TICT Quarterly to ensure everyone takes the time for a mental health “check-up”.

Lifeline is also delivering free training to small business owners and staff through a Minding Your Business program, which offers a range of training courses ranging from one hour to two days in length.

Ms Pearson says the last year has been challenging but the one positive to come from the pandemic has been the strengthened focus on mental health in Tasmania and a willingness for organisations and communities to work together to support the most vulnerable Tasmanians.

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MENTAL HEALTH: WHY YOU SHOULD BE TAKING TIME OUT TO FOCUS ON YOUR MENTAL HEALTH

Lifeline Tasmania Business Development Manager – Training and Support, Clare Pearson, says its hoped the program will be delivered in regional areas in the coming months as a follow up to the roadshow.

The workshops are being hosted by Dr Melanie Irons, a psychologist, consultant, researcher, qualified personal trainer and Pilates instructor, who is being joined by Tasmanian tourism champion 21

Lifeline has been operating in Tasmania for over 40 years providing the community with education and support to strengthen mental health and prevent suicide. The not-forprofit organisation employs over 50 staff and has 400 volunteers.

Ms Pearson says the organisation needed to be nimble and proactive during the COVID crisis.

“With support from the state government Lifeline Tasmania set up A Tasmanian lifeline (1800 98 44 34) to ensure that Tasmanians who were struggling with situational distress and social isolation and loneliness had a Tasmanian-specific line to call to get the psychosocial support and referral to appropriate services.

“In the early days of A Tasmanian lifeline the majority of calls were from older Tasmanians who were struggling with being isolated from family friends or just the ability to connect in their local community.

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“We also received a significant number of calls from younger Tasmanians who were separated from family on the mainland or internationally and who were feeling fear for the future. As time has progressed we are seeing a larger number of people who have been impacted financially by the pandemic and who are strug-gling with issues of relationship break down, financial distress and have been impacted by deterioration of the mental

health as a result of COVID. “People who call A Tasmanian lifeline will speak with a trained support worker, here in Tasmania, who has a good understanding of other services that are avail-able to provide further assistance, should that be required. The referrals we make are tailored to each caller’s circumstances.

If one of our Support Workers doesn’t know the answer to a particular question, we will find out and call you back.”

MENTAL HEALTH CHECK-UP

BY DR MELANIE IRONS

P

IT’S A FAMILIAR STORY

While the tone of the story is unpleasant; its origin mysterious; and the underlying science behind it is actually false, the story still has immense value (although, not for the frog). It illustrates the psychological construct of ‘creeping normality’: an ‘objectionable change that is accepted, because it occurs slowly’.

It is the weeds slowly spreading across the front garden, the smog gradually smothering a city, or the increasingly uncivil communication between colleagues. The changes are slow, and subtle, and a response is not initiated – until the situ-ation has deteriorated badly, often beyond control.

How does this relate to mental and physical wellbeing?

It works both ways.

Some of us do not see the warning signs that the water around us is getting warmer.

Our mental and physical wellbeing is deteriorating, but we are busy, overworked, too many pressures: who has time to sit down and take care of themselves? We ignore the quiet cues and clues our minds and bodies are trying to send.

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ut a frog in cold water, and slowly increase the temperature, and if the increase is gradual enough, the frog won’t notice the temperature changing – until it’s too late.

In the other direction, some of us are thriving, flourishing even, and our resilience is building, but we are not necessarily noticing that the normality is creeping in a positive direction – that the temperature of our water is actually cooling down.

We miss the opportunities to celebrate our successes, and our increased capacity to cope. We might end up under-estimating our potential.

Coming together for a workshop, in the context of mental and physical wellbeing, helps us to hit pause. To stop. To take a second. To listen to others and reflect on their stories as a reference point. To take a moment to come back to basics, be inspired, connect with others, and do an in-themoment assessment of our wellbeing.

It’s not really about the content you might hear, or the stories that are shared, or the ideas that are generated in a workshop – although these things are deeply valuable.

It’s more about taking a moment in time to check the temperature around you, so that objectionable changes in your life, that are occurring slowly and that you may not have noticed if you didn’t hit pause, are not left to deterio-rate further.

How is the temperature around you?

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TOURISM FACES: THE 2021 TICT TOURISM COLLECTIVE

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hat a fantastic day was had at Woolmer’s Estate for the 2021 Tourism Collective for International Women’s Day. A capacity 120 industry tourism women and men from across Tasmania gathered to hear two outstanding speakers, recently ‘retired’ Queensland Tourism Minister, the Hon Kate Jones, and our own first lady of Tasmanian hospitality, Kim Seagram.

Kim and Kate’s amazing address can be found on the TICT facebook page.

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Tourism media production

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Tasmania’s Production Company

Location scouting/management Event direction/production VJP guiding Logistics Level One • 2 Salamanca Square • Battery Point TAS 7004 info@hypetv.com.au 0424 436 422 Official Media Partner of TICT 25

Level 5, 29 Elizabeth Street Hobart TAS 7000 (03) 6231 2244 info@tict.com.au www.tict.com.au 26