I've worked in these industries in both New Zealand and Australia since 1994 and during that time had to respond to every major disruption since the Asian Financial Crisis of 1997. Never have I seen such a far-reaching upheaval of these industries as this viral outbreak.

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The level of financial sacrifice that everyone in these industries has made, be they a casual worker or owner of a business, has been breathtaking in its scale. But what has made many of us so proud is the even greater level of generosity and selflessness these same people, our people, have shown.

To name just a few examples; our accommodation businesses have taken in stranded visitors until they can safely travel home, and Tasmanians returning to self-isolate. Our distilleries have created sanitiser and given it away to those most in need, local cafes are giving free coffee to health workers and Harvest Market created an online market to support food producers.

This is a truly Tasmanian response in a crisis; knowing your lot isn't brilliant but wanting to help those who you know are doing it tougher. It is what makes living on this island such a real privilege.

We know this crisis will be temporary. History has taught us about viruses and 'herd immunity' and vaccines and the like. But what will Tasmania be as a community and a destination for intrepid visitors, post-COVID-19?

We can safely assume that when the world comes out of lockdown, and airlines are re-connecting us with other places, there will be a lot of people seeking an escape from their isolation. Our natural sometimes wild places, friendly accepting people, funky cultural scene and artisan food and drink will see a reward, and food for the soul for people who have had so many of the liberties restricted for such an unprecedented period of time. Add to this our Tasmanian tourism industry, founded on how Tasmanians host our guests and how those guests interact with, explore, share and discover our natural places. Social distancing has removed so much of these things from our daily lives and so abruptly. When Australians, especially, are able to travel again, Tasmania has the opportunity take advantage of our natural strengths.

There has never been a better time for us to aspire to become a true world-leading sustainable tourism destination. Sustainability is a well over-used word, but what does it mean in a tourism context exactly? It means we are in balance with our environment, our communities (particularly our indigenous community) and that as an industry we are profitable.

In general terms Tasmania's scorecard on these standards is good, but to be recognised as world-leading, we have a bit of work to do.

What it will mean to be a sustainable Tasmania destination will be different for each of our local communities and will be the topic of many future articles.

But it won't just be the government and industry bodies who will be responsible for this evolution. We all need to view this as a 'game-changer' opportunity. While we are locked down, we need to be bold in taking steps to reinvent how we do business so when we emerge from this temporary stasis, we're ready to create our new normal, a more sustainable Tasmania.

For local business people, this means using this downtime to support your people, rethink and reset the reasons why you're in business, and determine what you need to do to emerge from this time with a clear plan for your future. Already we're seeing businesses innovate and create new services and products which they wouldn't have normally had the time in the day, nor perhaps the inclination, to work on. Examples include Clover Hill Wines virtual wine tasting and Harvest Market going online.

Businesses won't be left to do this alone. The first wave of economic support has focused on sustaining business and incomes via federal, state and local government stimulus packages. The second wave will see the collective agencies across the state working on programs to inspire this business evolution.

An example of this is the first of a series of fortnightly 'virtual networker' forums that Tourism Northern Tasmania is hosting this Thursday. It'll include the Tourism Tasmania chief executive, expert financial advice relating to stimulus packages, an online business specialist providing top tips and a celebration of local innovative businesses.

Each fortnightly forum will unpack themes that explore how we can become more sustainable as an industry, how we will create our new normal.To learn more, and to be involved as a tourism business, drop us a line. admin@tnt.org.au

I'll end on a bad analogy. Do you remember that Boags Draught TV ad, circa 2008? The one where anything dropped in the water was pulled out as something that much better? Perhaps that's how we need to start thinking about this downtime we've been given.

For all you need to know about the resources available for your tourism business, go to www.coronavirus.tas.gov.au