30th March 2020 By Shannon Williams | shannon@tourismticker.com | @tourismticker
Alex Howard at home at Lake Tarawera near Rotorua
As the country moves into a four-week lockdown in an effort to contain the spread of Covid-19, the Ticker’s Lowdown on the Lockdown series brings you a daily take from a tourism professional exploring new ways of working, sharing what life now looks like for them and just how much the pandemic has changed what they do.
Alex Howard, business development manager at Rotorua Canopy Tours
How have the past few weeks been for you? What did the lead up to lockdown look like?
The last few weeks have been a bit of a rollercoaster. A little over two weeks ago I was celebrating with industry friends at the launch of Hobbiton’s new Hub building. At that point, Rotorua Canopy Tours had seen little impact from Covid-19, and while we were preparing for it, we didn’t quite appreciate just how hard it would hit us all. Fast-forward a week, I was bracing myself for the possibility of redundancy and the prospect of looking for work to get me through winter or until our industry had recovered. Now, I am extremely thankful to be fortunate enough to have kept my job, but am saddened by the number of friends in the industry who haven’t been so lucky.
How are you set up at home? Can you tell us a bit about your workspace?
I’m very lucky to have a great set up here at home on Lake Tarawera – the place is usually isolated at this time of year anyway, so I’m able to go about my work and get out for walks and bike rides through the forest as I normally would. I’ve rearranged the place a little so my desk is in a more prominent position with a lot more natural light, which is definitely helping me stay focussed, and am making a point of sticking to a daily routine.
Have you got any goals – work and personal – that you would like to achieve in the next couple of weeks?
I plan to work as closely with the Rotorua Canopy Tours team, Destination Rotorua and other local operators to ensure that we’re all in the best position to bounce back from this as soon as possible, and create a demand that will help get our tourism whanau who have lost their jobs back into the industry. I also plan to attend all of the virtual industry drinks on Fridays at 4pm – I think this is a great way for our industry to stay in touch and support each other.
For me personally, I want to use this time to upskill myself, so will be researching and attending digital workshops whenever I can to help me understand and prepare for what the new tourism industry will look like following all of these changes. I am also making sure I get outside for a walk, run or bike ride every day; I think doing so keeps the mind and body in check, and will make the next few weeks a lot more enjoyable and productive.
Have you and your family or loved ones got some fun ideas to get you through?
Yes, as we’re fortunate to have very few people around us here, we built a short golf hole on the reserve in front of our place, and plan to have closest-to-the-flag competitions throughout the month to crown a champion at the end of lockdown. You can just make out the yellow flag behind me in the picture there. We’ve also began a puzzle as a family, something we haven’t done in a long time but now have the time to do. The silver lining to this lockdown is that we have an opportunity to spend time with family and loved ones that we’d never usually get, and we’re embracing that.
And are there any messages of support you’d like to share with the industry?
He waka eke noa – we’re all in this together. This situation impacts everybody in New Zealand, and especially so, everybody in our industry. The best way for us to get through this is together.
If you’d like to contribute to our Lowdown on the Lockdown series, contact the Ticker’s Shannon Williams at shannon@tourismticker.com.
