21st April 2020 By Shannon Williams | shannon@tourismticker.com | @tourismticker
Hanrahan has been enjoying family dinners, walks and bike rides during lockdown
The Lowdown on the Lockdown brings you a regular take from a tourism professional exploring new ways of working, sharing what life now looks like for them and just how much Covid-19 has changed what they do.
Daily Zoom meetings with TIA, as well as Friday virtual drinks
Tourism Industry Aotearoa advocacy manager Steve Hanrahan on the whirlwind of heading into lockdown, the importance of communicating with members, and looking at lockdown as an opportunity.
How have the last few weeks been for you? What was business like heading into lockdown?
Hectic would be an understatement. Trying to make sense of what was going on, what this meant for our members and tourism in general, and then what responses were required was the big challenge. Government decisions were coming out by the day so what might have been the focus one day then changed the next. It came to feel like each morning I would figuratively buckle myself into my chair and head into the unknown.
And how have you been settling into lockdown life?
Things still move fairly quickly in lockdown though a bit more manageable than the period prior. Government are continuing to put out further business-assistance packages such as the finance guarantee scheme and tax carry-back programme – the relevance or benefits of these for some of our members carries a question-mark. On a personal front, I’ve adapted quickly to lockdown life. I have a good work area, the communications with the TIA team and members is good, and I’m happy not to travel into work each day (for a while).
What are the priorities that you are focusing on right now?
The team at TIA have been doing a great job, responding really well to the crisis. Member support and working with government officials is the main area of focus for me. This comes in different shapes and forms – talking directly to members and officials, holding weekly webinars where we regularly get 300+ attendees, planning meetings and so on. Understanding how our members are responding to the current situation is important, providing advice and information, getting a sense of how well the government support packages are landing for businesses, and what else is needed is the main priority.
How are you communicating with your team? Do you have regular conference calls, video chats?
We have a daily 9am Zoom meeting with all the TIA team where chief executive Chris Roberts provides an update and we check in with each other on what’s happening today. We also have virtual drinks on Friday afternoon. I have a regular virtual coffee with my advocacy team, and also catch-up with them individually.
And how are you keeping up morale through this difficult time?
For me personally, I remind myself I’ve been involved in difficult times in the past and come through it so don’t get down about this. I see this as a challenge and opportunity and keep trying to do my best – can’t ask more than that!
Can you tell us a bit about your bubble? What do you get up to in order to keep spirits up?
My bubble is my wife Davina and our two daughters Kelsey and Renee, plus our cat Simba. I’m enjoying family dinners and having the family together, as the girls have been away from home working and flatting. I do regular exercise, walks and cycling, and overall try to keep relaxed. I learnt transcendental mediation many years ago and while I haven’t been a regular user I do find it particularly useful at times like this.
Have you got any personal goals that you are hoping to achieve while in lockdown?
Not really, other than not to let it get on top of me and make it a learning experience that I’ll be better for in the future.
What will business look like for you once restrictions lift?
I think it will be more of the same in that I’ll continue to support members and work with government and the industry once restrictions lift. There is going to be lots of challenges and opportunities going forward. What will tourism look like for operators, what needs to be done to make their businesses successful, how do we continue to have a sustainable tourism industry New Zealanders value and can be proud of? I’m looking forward to how we as an industry make this happen and being a part of that.
Have you got any messages of support for the industry that you would like to share?
I’m so proud and impressed by our tourism operators. They are going through something that even five weeks ago seemed unimaginable. Their ability to respond, adapt and stay strong is awesome. Stay in there, while the future looks very different it also has lots of potential and brings a great opportunity to innovate, adapt and even improve on the great things we already had as an industry.
If you’d like to contribute to our Lowdown on the Lockdown series, contact the Ticker’s Shannon Williams at shannon@tourismticker.com.
