LC EIC Inquiry into the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the tourism and events sectors Submission 094
16 April 2021
6 Par iament P ace East Me bourne VIC 3002
Emai : [email protected] The Secretary Web: www.nationa trust.org.au Economy and Infrastructure Committee Parliament House, Spring Street T 03 9656 9800 EAST MELBOURNE VIC 3002
Re: Inquiry into the impact of the pandemic on tourism and events
Dear Committee,
Thank you for the opportunity to provide a submission regarding the inquiry into the impact of the pandemic on tourism and events.
The National Trust of Australia (Victoria) (National Trust) is Victoria’s largest community- based heritage advocacy organisation actively working towards conserving and protecting our heritage for future generations to enjoy, representing 35,270 members throughout Victoria. The National Trust is Victoria’s leading operator of historic properties and heritage attractions, managing over 40 historic properties across the state, with 26 open to the public prior to the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic. Our property portfolio is diverse, including historic mansions, a remnant rainforest, a tall ship, a gaol, and a mill, just to name a few. The National Trust prides itself on providing public access to our sites and running a range of exciting events and attractions for visitors both local and international. As Victoria’s premier heritage tourism organisation, the National Trust has an interest in ensuring that tourists can continue to enjoy access to our significant locations and events.
We are an independent, non-government and not-for-profit organisation. While independent of government, we work collaboratively with Government, local councils, businesses, local communities and individuals to strengthen heritage protection, increase community involvement and understanding of, and the need for heritage conservation and provide tourism and engagement experiences for diverse audiences.
The National Trust believes that cultural heritage has an essential role in providing and strengthening tourism and events access in Victoria and Australia, and that there are many untapped opportunities that could be explored by the State Parliament moving forward. The protection and activation of heritage places and spaces, including places of Aboriginal, non- Aboriginal, cultural, and social significance, provides significant economic benefits, as well as non-economic benefits including supporting social wellbeing, and community identity.
Heritage tourism has far-reaching advantages, including injecting new money into the economy through developments; creating jobs, work opportunities for volunteers, events and attractions. It promotes conservation and presentation of heritage; and helps build vital relationships within local and regional communities. Socially, heritage tourism helps to build social capital; promotes preservation of local traditions, customs and cultures; provides opportunities for research, education, life-long learning; and boosts local and regional
1 LC EIC Inquiry into the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the tourism and events sectors Submission 094
investment in heritage resources and amenities that support tourism services. While environmentally, it encourages a culture of sustainability; increases the knowledge, awareness, understanding and commitment to the value of places and attractions; and encourages locals and visitors to be more mindful about their impact on the natural and built environment. Visitor benefits include, heritage tourism experiences that create a deeper understanding of a place; greater satisfaction gained from well interpreted heritage tourism experiences; and visitors feeling as though they are contributing to the history of a place and its culture through participation in heritage experiences.1
Globally, heritage tourism has become one of the largest and fastest growing tourism sectors, with the United Nations World Tourism Organisation estimating in 2017 that more than 50% of tourists worldwide are now motivated by a desire to experience a country’s culture and heritage. Research indicates that visitors to heritage-based activities are more likely to seek high value experiences and deliver a higher spend than nature-based activities. Within the context of tourism and events, cultural heritage organisations such as the National Trust of Australia (Victoria) have the capacity to provide significant value to the community, and economy.
The impact of COVID-19 on tourism and events
Like many other institutions, the National Trust has been hit hard by COVID-19. Approximately 70% of our revenue is derived from the interaction of people with our sites (such as tourism activity, admissions, events, and filming). Lengthy closures due to COVID-19 restrictions have had a significant impact on our bottom line. While JobKeeper has enabled us to keep most of our employees engaged, and “keep the lights on”, to date we have not received additional funding from the Federal or State Government.
As a case study example, the Old Melbourne Gaol is located in the Melbourne CBD and was open daily from 10am till 5pm prior to the pandemic. Before restrictions the Gaol was the most profitable metropolitan property under National Trust management, providing essential revenue to support the National Trust’s mission and operations. The site runs tours and interpretive experiences for visitors and a range of educational activities are available for school groups. In 2019, the last full year the National Trust operated without the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Old Melbourne Gaol generated $3.2M in revenue. This was a profit of $1.6M, while other National Trust operations were at a loss of $1.1M. The result was that the Old Melbourne Gaol accounted for 320% of National Trust profits for 2019. Any revenue loss at the Old Melbourne Gaol has a far greater impact on profit for the National Trust than any other property.
Before international border restrictions in February 2020 the Gaol had been averaging visitation of approximately 10500 people a month since July 2019. In early February 2020, Australia closed its borders to travellers who had left from, or travelled through, mainland China. Between January and February 2020 visitation at the Gaol dropped by 51%. This was followed by an entry ban on all non-citizens and non-residents to Australia on March 20th. Between February and March visitation at the Gaol reduced by a further 33%, and at 12pm on March 23rd 2020 the Old Melbourne Gaol closed its doors to visitors entirely. These statistics on visitation show the reliance on international and especially Chinese tourism that a CBD based site like the Old Melbourne Gaol has.
1 Department of Jobs, Precincts and Regions, Regional Tourism Review, 2019
2 LC EIC Inquiry into the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the tourism and events sectors Submission 094
Despite a brief two week opening in June 2020, the Gaol was essentially closed from late March until late November 2020. During the closure the interpretation available at the Gaol was redesigned and a new activity, the Cluedo Experience was launched. This activation was in partnership with the global Cluedo brand. The Gaol is now open 5 days a week and average visitation over January, February and March 2021 is at 21% compared to average visitation at the same time last year.
Without further support, or significant increases in revenue, the Trust faces an existential crisis. The places we manage, that Victorians assume will always be preserved, are under threat if we cannot maintain financial stability. The National Trust is in need of urgent support to ensure our capacity to protect our properties for future generations of Victorians. As the previously most successful area and the hardest hit by the absence of international tourism, our CBD sites require new promotion, activation and support.
Furthermore, the Trust’s capacity to maintain and protect our properties needs to be strengthened. We currently act as Committee of Management for 9 State owned properties, including the Old Melbourne Gaol. Whilst some funds are provided through the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning, this support is insufficient to sustain the ongoing protection and engagement of the properties for the enjoyment of the Victorian public. The National Trust has been trying to negotiate management agreements with the Department of Environment Land Water and Planning, to guarantee protection of these important heritage assets, thus ensuring the funds the Trust spends in addition to running and operating the premise could be used to greater maximise and provide return for the Trust and the visitor economy.
There is a significant need in the short-to-medium term to support the National Trust’s capacity to reopen our remaining sites to the public and to run engaging events, to ensure our recovery and survival from the effects of COVID-19. We can no longer rely on international travellers to boost visitation at our metropolitan sites and therefore we must look to encourage and sustain visitation with our available domestic audience. Due to the drastic loss in revenue we have endured over the past year, this can only be achieved through funding support.
The National Trust is also exploring new avenues to capitalise on our ability to attract visitors and advertise our brand throughout Victoria. Below we discuss opportunities which could be considered by Government to support heritage tourism in the current climate.
1. Tourism
As an organisation we have suffered with a decrease in attendance to our metropolitan ticketed venues. We have also become aware of the public need to discover local regions and their offerings due to the restrictions on travel, especially through cultural and natural experiences. To come back from this remarkable situation caused by the pandemic and demonstrate relevance and importance, the National Trust will continue to highlight its contribution and significance in the tourism sector.
In 2019 the Regional Tourism Review Discussion Paper noted:
Only 1 per cent of visitors to the regions are international, compared to 9 per cent in Melbourne. International expenditure and overnight visitation in our regions has grown by 3.5 per cent and 6.2 per cent respectively over the year to March 2019… Victorians account
3 LC EIC Inquiry into the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the tourism and events sectors Submission 094
for around 80 per cent of tourism spending in regional Victoria in total dollar terms. Daytrip and overnight visitors from within Victoria spend six times more than interstate overnight visitors, and 14 times more than international overnight visitors.2
In addition in April 2020 a study from the University of Queensland revealed that more than half of all Australians (who were considering travel) were keen to travel domestically after COVID-19 restrictions eased, and 50% of the travellers would prefer to drive rather than fly to destinations.3 Most of the Trust’s regional properties are on significant drive tourism routes, including the Great Ocean Road and Gariwerd (the Grampians). Furthermore, heritage tourists are predominantly domestic day and domestic overnight visitors. Evidence from previous years like that of the Regional Tourism Review and recent enthusiasm for the Regional Travel Voucher Scheme show these markets provide volume and stability to the sector and exhibit potential for growth through tailored offerings in regional heritage tourism.
In a short period of time COVID-19 has dramatically changed the tourism and travel landscape across Australia and the world. However, we can expect that the relaxation of social distancing measures marks the start of a slow return to some sense of economic normality. We are now reaching a point where our places and destinations need to move from recovery to regeneration.
For those sites that are located in the CBD, education tourism has become the most reliable source of visitation. For example, at the Polly Woodside tall ship it has become evident that there are simply not enough regular tourists to sustain admissions. Therefore, the National Trust has found a way to pivot to education and events only offerings at the Polly Woodside. Education now proves to be the biggest attractor, as children who have been kept away from the wider world and their schools for an extended period of time want to get out again. While schools and teachers are eager to engage their students tangibly through excursions, providing opportunities to escape the computer screens that were their only source of education for so long. Hand in hand with making new education and events activities available to respond to this heightened demand, the best way to capitalise on this target audience is through improved marketing strategies. Through ensuring our potential customers are aware of the offerings we have made available to them, we can provide accessibility to the exciting education programs these groups crave now more than ever.
2. Events
The National Trust regularly engages and collaborates with various partners to activate and exhibit our properties and collections through enticing events. In recent years these activities have included a virtual reality experience at the Old Melbourne Gaol (Meet Ned Kelly. Think you know me?), fashion exhibitions (Night Life, The Dressmaker and Super 70s) held at Rippon Lea and Barwon Park, Como Fashion Quarter, an exhibition whereby four artists and stylists exhibited their responses to the Trust fashion collection, Gumbadik , an exhibition of photographic artworks held at Tasma Terrace by artists of Baluk Arts inspired by the Trust’s Endeavour Fern Gully property in Red Hill, Como by Design, a three day interior design showcase held at Como in October 2018 run by interior designer Tigger Hall, and more recently our 2020 Christmas Markets in partnership with Rose St. Maker’s Market. As an innovative custodian of heritage, the National Trust is committed to strengthening partnerships and continuing to identify
2 Department of Jobs, Precincts and Regions, Regional Tourism Review, 2019 3 University of Queensland, https://www.uq.edu.au/news/article/2020/04/sunny-outlook-domestic-tourism- post-covid-19-restrictions, 24 April 2020
4 LC EIC Inquiry into the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the tourism and events sectors Submission 094
inspired ways to stimulate visitation to our properties and increase access to our collections. Our properties hold unlimited opportunities for site-responsive performances, creative productions, exhibitions, music, photography, film and fashion, yet to be unlocked to their full potential and attract a varied audience.
For example, each year the National Trust coordinates the Australian Heritage Festival, Australia’s biggest annual community-driven heritage festival. While the Festival used to be funded through the Federal Government’s National Trust Partnership Program, it is no longer supported by Federal or State Government, despite a strong record of success and high community engagement. In Victoria the Festival is comprised of events from across the state organised by National Trust properties, Branches, community groups, local councils, individuals and other organisations. This festival involves a diverse number of creative individuals and organisations who are inspired by a heritage theme and host events in response across metropolitan and regional areas. The 2019 Australian Heritage Festival theme was Connecting People, Places and the Past with over 290 events registered across the state, and more than 140,000 attendees. Unfortunately, the 2020 event was cancelled due to COVID-19 programming interruptions. Due to the impacts of the pandemic, we are currently reviewing our delivery model, and looking at options for digital engagement, which we believe has the potential to significantly grow our appeal, and support hundreds of other community groups across the state. Grassroots activities such as the Australian Heritage Festival have significant community support, and have the potential to provide economic and cultural benefits to communities, especially in regional areas. This pivot to digital programming would benefit from re-engagement by the government to renew the digital infrastructure of the Festival, and build capacity for greater community participation.
3. Opportunities
The National Trust has found new ways to create opportunities and income that will be customer orientated and focussed on a visitor experience designed to create dwell time, repeat visitation and visitor dispersal. Critical to this is the need for partnerships that provide private commercial operators and local economies, like RACV and Intrepid, with content. Our collections, stories and destinations can be utilised so much more to help provide products and attractions for members and the local, intrastate and interstate markets. Some projects in development include working with developers to create multi use precincts (such as Pentridge), through various mechanisms like adaptive reuse, heritage interpretation, event activations and places, to promote and sell local makers from within communities.
Furthermore, collaborative opportunities with organisations that previously may have presented as competitors now lend themselves to unique symbiotic partnerships that play to the strengths of each organisation. This in turn brings a broader and much deeper experience for the visitor and local communities with greater capacity to develop communities and new economic streams. Partnerships with Local Councils have also proven fruitful from grants to facilitate small music festivals with local artists (Friday Music Nights at The Heights in Geelong), to large activations aimed at promoting health, wellbeing and sense of community, such as Botanica Festival at Rippon Lea Estate.
However, these projects are more reactive, and longer lead times with greater financial support to develop master plans and destination management plans across our active regions would evolve the organisation into a much more stable and sustainable tourism and events leader.
5