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Speaker 1: When we spoke to our next guest earlier in the week,

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Speaker 1: it was when there was hotspot declarations in a number

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Speaker 1: of states around Australia. We know that a couple of

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Speaker 1: those have now lifted. What's it meant for us here

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Speaker 1: in the Northern Territory. Well Hospitality NT CEO Alex Bruce

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Speaker 1: joins us.

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Speaker 2: On the line right now. Good morning, Alex.

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Speaker 3: Good ay Katie Alex.

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Speaker 2: How have the changes sort of impacted us?

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Speaker 1: Now we know South Australia and Victoria have come out

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Speaker 1: of those lockdowns, what kind of impact has it had

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Speaker 1: for us?

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Speaker 2: Sort of immediately.

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Speaker 3: Any absolutely, and it's been very positive. So there was

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Speaker 3: a bit of a lingering concern how much longer our

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Speaker 3: border restrictions would remain beyond the hotspots being listed at

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Speaker 3: eleven fifty nine on Tuesday night in South Australia and Melbourne,

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Speaker 3: and we were very pleased to hear the news that

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Speaker 3: it was one minute more and from midnight the border

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Speaker 3: restrictions were getting eased. So yesterday the phones were ringing hot,

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Speaker 3: particularly from Burni Ins, contacting accommodation houses right across the

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Speaker 3: city saying can we get our cancer booking back please?

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Speaker 1: Yeah, Well, and I've no doubt that it probably has

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Speaker 1: had an impact on different events. We know that this

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Speaker 1: weekend is the Darwin Cup and they would have been

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Speaker 1: expecting a.

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Speaker 2: Lot of interstate visitors.

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Speaker 1: Any idea whether some of those are coming to the

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Speaker 1: territory again for Darwin Cup Day or what impact that's had.

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Speaker 3: Yes, there is, pleasingly people that had held on to

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Speaker 3: their hospitality throughout the weekend or madly tried to claw

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Speaker 3: it back again yesterday the Cup ball And you know,

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Speaker 3: Brad Morgan and the team are doing a phenomenal job

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Speaker 3: and it's his news to report official numbers and things.

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Speaker 3: But I know that I was getting as low as

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Speaker 3: about four fifty last Friday, and then by Tuesday they

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Speaker 3: were telling the catering company involved, we're better plan for

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Speaker 3: more like eleven hundred. So it's quite a massive significant turnaround.

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Speaker 2: Yeah.

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Speaker 1: Well, and yeah, difficult when it comes to organizing any

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Speaker 1: like any kind of significant event at the moment because

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Speaker 1: there's so many changes coming in, you know, so many

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Speaker 1: changes when it comes to those hot spots and lockdowns,

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Speaker 1: and you want to make sure that you're as organized

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Speaker 1: as possible, but gee, it makes it tough for those

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Speaker 1: event organizers, it.

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Speaker 3: Does, and it really hits our fly drive market at

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Speaker 3: the moment, or just fly up and stay in and

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Speaker 3: around the city as part of the Cup or coming

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Speaker 3: into Darwin Festival as well. The other side of it

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Speaker 3: is it's not it's not shared equally across the territory

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Speaker 3: and Australian's got a heavy dose of border restrictions again

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Speaker 3: across the country, so it does put a hesitancy into

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Speaker 3: would be tourist's mind about leaving their home states.

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Speaker 1: But obviously, but obviously when South Australia and Victoria lifted,

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Speaker 1: we did see you know, some of that lift to

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Speaker 1: some degree.

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Speaker 3: Correct, So accommodation was sitting fifty sixty percent before those

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Speaker 3: hot spots were listed. Now we think they're on tracks

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Speaker 3: for eighty five ninety percent. Bearing in mind you couldn't

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Speaker 3: get a room for a couple weekend five six weeks

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Speaker 3: ago and we were solidly booked for the next few months,

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Speaker 3: which is what we need to be in our peak season.

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Speaker 3: You know how much it does drop off in the

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Speaker 3: build up, so we've clawed a lot of it back

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Speaker 3: and looking around the country again, we wouldn't want to

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Speaker 3: be anywhere else.

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Speaker 1: Hey, what about in Central Australia because we obviously caught

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Speaker 1: up with tourism Central Australia earlier in the week and

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Speaker 1: they had really serious concerns. You know, they've seen such

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Speaker 1: significant drops to tourism as a result of those lockdowns.

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Speaker 1: Do you know if they've had much movement with these

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Speaker 1: changes over the last couple of days.

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Speaker 3: Yes, look similarly Alice Springs accommodations very solidly recovered, but

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Speaker 3: it's not spread equally. There's a big drive market, you know,

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Speaker 3: you only have to drive between Darwin and Catherine and

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Speaker 3: it's going at the moment there are a lot of

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Speaker 3: caravans out and about and that looks like it will

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Speaker 3: continue for the next few weeks. But we particularly do

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Speaker 3: feel for our tourism operator family ones where you know

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Speaker 3: z providing transport that's not getting as much take up,

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Speaker 3: you know, the tour buses and some of those bespoke

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Speaker 3: products because you know, the self drive markets bringing their

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Speaker 3: own vehicle, those kinds of things. So it is a

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Speaker 3: mixed bag. But again our short shart lockdown Darwin and

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Speaker 3: Dallas compared to the rolling unfortunate quagmire in Sydney. You know,

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Speaker 3: we do have to acknowledge that once again we've been

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Speaker 3: able to pull out of it stronger than most.

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Speaker 1: Yeah. Hey, I understand as well that a new fund

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Speaker 1: has been set up to assist hospitality workers.

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Speaker 2: What's this all about.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, So, we've been collaborating with the government for many

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Speaker 3: years now in workforce development issues, and we've spoken obviously

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Speaker 3: many times that when COVID borders and lockdowns aren't our

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Speaker 3: biggest issue, it's workforce shortage and how to how to

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Speaker 3: plug those gaps. So another one that we've been endorsed

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Speaker 3: with Minister Kirby, Jobs and Training Minister, that we're launching today.

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Speaker 3: It's for existing local territory and hospitality workers. We're going

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Speaker 3: to help pick up some of their costs flights, accommodation. Non.

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Speaker 3: Think of a young up and coming chefs if they

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Speaker 3: would benefit by going somewhere into state and seeing some skills,

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Speaker 3: or we send a team int with Martin, the head

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Speaker 3: of the Culinary Federation up here down in and we

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Speaker 3: compete in some of those or some of the cocktail

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Speaker 3: making competitions. It's a way to build the camaraderie in

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Speaker 3: our industry, we think, which will ultimately help us retain

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Speaker 3: those hard working local workers that have been with us,

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Speaker 3: and you know, they're so critical. We need to keep them.

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Speaker 1: So if someone out there listening right now is thinking,

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Speaker 1: oh okay, I could do that, where can they head

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Speaker 1: to to get a bit more info?

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Speaker 3: Yeah, sure, just admin at hospitalitynt dot com dot au

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Speaker 3: or find us on faith book. We're definitely first and

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Speaker 3: foremost trying to grow locally as much as we can.

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Speaker 3: Hospitality workers.

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Speaker 2: Well, good on you, Alex. It's always good to catch

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Speaker 2: up with you, and we'll catch up with you again,

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Speaker 2: so no doubt. Yeah, Jeers Katie, thank you