It goes without saying that this is the greatest challenge the world has faced in our lifetime and, for us in tourism and hospitality, we’ve had to watch our beloved industry evaporate overnight.

Holy heck who would ever have expected a global pandemic, especially directly on the back of some of the most devastating bushfires Australia has ever seen.

I feel so proud that Aussies and Kiwis have done such a stellar job of facing this challenge and curbing the spread of coronavirus, and I applaud the way state, territory and federal governments have handled the situation up to this point.

And now, finally, it feels like we may be reaching a turning point - it has been fantastic to see some travel restrictions being relaxed across Australasia.

Who would have thought I’d see the day when I was excited about the prospect of being allowed to leave my local neighbourhood?

Yes, we have all put in the hard yards to keep Coronavirus under control and now I believe everyone should be rewarded for that. 

After months of isolation, what better way to reward people than giving them permission to take a holiday?

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The InterContinental Hayman Island Resort. Source: IHG

Winter is a spectacular time to explore our country, whether it’s escaping north to Queensland for warmer weather, getting cosy in Tasmania or visiting one our Australia’s many wine regions.

For the tourism and hospitality industry that has suffered so badly, it would be a tragic to miss this chance to get people back out and exploring everything our amazing country has on offer.

For this to happen, we need those borders to be open and our airlines flying to all domestic destinations as soon as possible. 

We are ready to bring thousands of great people back to work and reopen those hotels that have had to temporarily close, including icons like InterContinental Hayman Island Resort and Crowne Plaza Hunter Valley.

We are also ready to restart the engines for IHG’s biggest year of Australian hotel openings ever, including some brand new hotels like Crowne Plaza Hobart, Crowne Plaza Adelaide, and our first Hotel Indigo properties in Brisbane and Adelaide.

And everyone can come back to hotels knowing that safety, cleanliness and wellbeing is the top priority.

The industry is prepared to welcome everyone back and has been working together to put the right measures in place and reassure guests that it is safer than ever to travel – in fact, at IHG hotels we guarantee it with our IHG Clean Promise.

Aussies spend up to $20 billion on international travel, so even if they spent half of that at home in the next twelve months it could replace our largest inbound segments. Let’s kickstart our economy through tourism – I know that Aussies will take on the responsibility to do it with safety and care.

We’ll be ready to welcome them with socially-distant open arms.

Originally published as 'Craving a (different) state of relaxation' on LinkedIn 

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