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Speaker 1: In what is some good news, territorians and visitors are

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Speaker 1: soon going to be able to get a twenty five

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Speaker 1: percent discount on tourism experiences under a new government scheme.

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Speaker 1: The one million dollar scheme takes effect at the end

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Speaker 1: of the month and it's going to run through until

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Speaker 1: April thirty, providing an economic boost to operators in what

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Speaker 1: is usually deemed those quieter months. Now joining us on

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Speaker 1: the line to tell us a little bit more about

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Speaker 1: this is Tourism Central Australia CEO Daniel Rochford. Good morning

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Speaker 1: to you.

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Speaker 2: Good morning Katie, Good morning to you listeners.

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Speaker 1: Daniel tell us how well, first off, how is this

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Speaker 1: initiative going to work and just how much of a

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Speaker 1: boost is it.

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Speaker 3: Look, it's twenty five percent of territory tourism experiences, that's accommodation,

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Speaker 3: tools and attractions. Travel is from the twenty ninth to

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Speaker 3: February to the end of April. So if you're looking

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Speaker 3: at traveling throughout the NC or wanting to do something

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Speaker 3: in that time, you can get access to that twenty

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Speaker 3: five percent of booked through all the visitor Information centers

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Speaker 3: across the territory, and that booking starts on the twenty

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Speaker 3: ninth of February, so it gives you a few few

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Speaker 3: more days to plan and then from the twenty ninth

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Speaker 3: to February you can start contacting your local information.

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Speaker 1: In it does it include all parts of the Northern

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Speaker 1: territory And you know how big a difference will it

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Speaker 1: make for you guys in Central Australia.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, it does include all parts of the territory, which

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Speaker 3: is great. And you know, unlike the vouchers which are

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Speaker 3: a little bit lopsided, there's a little bit more equity

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Speaker 3: with this one, which is great news for Central Australia.

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Speaker 3: And you know we're openly encouraging people, especially from the

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Speaker 3: top end, to come down. We've got three great events

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Speaker 3: coming up, fab Balla, the Able Springs Cup, Carnival and

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Speaker 3: of course Pajma, So that will all be in that

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Speaker 3: May April period of time, so perfect to get you

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Speaker 3: get that twenty five percent off.

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Speaker 1: Now, talk me through you know, whether you think this

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Speaker 1: scheme is going to be better compared to the tourism

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Speaker 1: voucher scheme that we had. I guess it was a

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Speaker 1: couple of years ago, or at least a year ago,

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Speaker 1: wasn't it.

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Speaker 3: Yeah? And in fact I think this scheme is actually yeah,

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Speaker 3: I think it's certainly better from a not only add

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Speaker 3: equity perspective that I touched on, but also the fact

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Speaker 3: that you can actually get more than the two hundred

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Speaker 3: dollars but the voucher schemes were offering a few years ago.

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Speaker 3: Your booking package can go up to five thousand dollars

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Speaker 3: in total and you get twenty five percent off that

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Speaker 3: five thousand dollars. So you know, it's far more lucrative

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Speaker 3: if you're looking for that additional experience that you've always

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Speaker 3: been wanting to do.

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Speaker 1: And so is it only for tourism bookings within the

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Speaker 1: time frame or can people sort of book stuff to

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Speaker 1: do during the dry season as well, or is it

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Speaker 1: just during that time frame?

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Speaker 3: Just through that time frame Katie, And really it's about

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Speaker 3: giving the tourism industry a little bit of a sugar hit.

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Speaker 3: It's pretty quiet both from what I hear up in

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Speaker 3: the top end and alsos in Central Australia over summer,

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Speaker 3: and this will be a great little sugar hit to

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Speaker 3: start the industry season ahead.

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Speaker 1: Yeah. How big a difference do you reckon? It's going

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Speaker 1: to make done? You'll life? How has it been for

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Speaker 1: you guys in Central Australia in recent weeks and months.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, it has been quiet.

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Speaker 4: We have seen international visitors pick up, which is good,

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Speaker 4: and we're certainly seeing starting to see some domestic visitors

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Speaker 4: come through. It's just great.

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Speaker 3: But this program will be definitely that sugar hit that

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Speaker 3: our industry needs.

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Speaker 1: And so tell me in terms of you know, it

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Speaker 1: is something that we talk about you know a lot.

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Speaker 1: How have things been going from that crime perspective, because

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Speaker 1: we did hear overnight that it was an incredibly busy

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Speaker 1: night for Northern Territory Police in Alice Springs, But from

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Speaker 1: your perspective, how has that all been tracking?

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Speaker 3: Yeah, Well, we're still dancing that dance, aren't.

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Speaker 4: We a year after year after year, and certainly this

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Speaker 4: year has been different to last year. Last year was

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Speaker 4: very centered on the CBD while year what we've seen

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Speaker 4: is a lot more home invasions, a lot more car

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Speaker 4: feelings and the like, so you know where you know,

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Speaker 4: it is still a constant issue for us, and you

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Speaker 4: know we've we're constantly.

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Speaker 3: Advocating to the Northern Territory government that more needs to

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Speaker 3: be done.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, Like one last message for our listeners, I mean,

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Speaker 1: where should where should they go? What's your top picks

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Speaker 1: for what they need to do with these vouchers.

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Speaker 2: Well, it's a shame today's not Valentine's Decade because there's

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Speaker 2: a lot of love that you can show Central Australia

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Speaker 2: in the coming few weeks. Come down to come down

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Speaker 2: to the Barklay and come down to Central Australia. There's

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Speaker 2: so much to do in terms of events, but so

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Speaker 2: much to see all our iconic I had a lovely

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Speaker 2: person ring up saying they want to spend three nights

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Speaker 2: at Longitude at three thousand dollars a night. So you know,

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Speaker 2: even from those big picture products that we have to

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Speaker 2: coming to our local attractions at Alice Springs. It's all

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Speaker 2: on the table in the next two months.

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Speaker 1: Well, it's always good to catch up with you. Daniel Rochford.

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Speaker 1: Thank you very much for your time this morning.

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Speaker 2: Thanks Katie much appreciate it.

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Speaker 1: Thank you,