Dear all,

We hope you’re holding up OK.  In these monthly emails we tend to woop woop about all the great marketing stuff that’s happening and while that is certainly going on (there’s plenty on this below), we are very much aware that times are tough.

We are in contact with many of you, and we have been working hard, lobbying Government and working media channels to advocate for more financial support.  One thing is clear; this is the toughest time of the pandemic so far.  Aside from the lockdowns (or lockdowns by proxy as Melbourne is closed), what we are hearing is that customers are cancelling bookings instead of deferring them, so there are dangerous levels of cash outflows from your businesses.  The real blow, of course, is the fact that while there are much-needed grants available (to many) what we are missing this time around are wage subsidies (like JobSaver in NSW) and some sort of ‘cashflow boost’ as was the case last year (GST and PAYG refunds).

We are advocating hard and hope that we are making some headway here.  I must mention as well, the tireless efforts of Felicia Mariani and her team at VTIC. Check out their release from Sunday and have a bit of a meander around their site while you’re there.  I encourage you to support VTIC with even a basic membership.

A little over a week ago, Felicia, Paul Matthews, some fantastic operators and I met with Minister Mary-Anne Thomas and some department folks to talk about the dire state of affairs.  It was a good meeting, and I hope that something comes out of it.  Minister Thomas suggested I get some data to back up our case and you might have seen a survey I sent around.  We had ninety responses – a huge thanks to all of you who took the time (average was three minutes) to do this.

Here is a summary of what you told us:

We will be in touch as we learn more about support measures.  In the meantime, here’s the woop woop stuff! The team (including several new members) here are busting their arses, continuing to remind people of how bloody great our region is, so that when restrictions ease, we will again be the number one region in terms of year on year growth, as we were earlier this year.

Our channels have also grown. If you’d like to support our marketing, read on to find out more.

Steve and the DMT Team