Exiting Visit Northern Tasmania boss Chris Griffin reflects on decade of change

The then-39-year-old was applying to spearhead the new Northern tourism organisation, a framework he helped create shortly before Tourism Tasmania offered him a redundancy.

"What will the North's MONA be? What will be our game-changer?"

His response was simple.

"You don't get one," he recalls answering.

"You aren't going to have this big sparkly ball that solves all your problems - you're actually going to have to work hard."

READ MORE: Launceston Mall's Prouds building for sale

On Friday he wound up a decade as Visit Northern Tasmania's chief executive having done just that.

Clearing out his office in Cameron Street, the father-of-two reflected that he had come a long way from a borrowed laptop on a borrowed desk in the transit centre.

And in that time, Northern Tasmania's tourism landscape has evolved just as dramatically.

"The difference is confidence," he said.

"The North has a hell of a lot more confidence in its future than it did 10 years ago.

"It was looking to Hobart to see what it could be - now I don't get the sense that we look to Hobart for directional solutions or to replicate what they're doing - we're very clear on the things that we want to do.

"You can feel that the place has poked its chest out a bit."

Thee average visitor to Tasmania spends $240 a day, much of which can be attributed to 'overnighting'.

A sufficiently vibrant nighttime economy is key to enticing visitors to stay overnight, and Mr Griffin believes Launceston is improving in that space.

Arguably a bigger challenge, however, is workforce casualisation caused by seasonality.

Launceston has twice as many visitors in the warmer months as it does between Easter and October.

The Cool Season strategy was set up expressly to boost Northern Tasmania's lull period by bringing major events to the North.

READ MORE: Kenzo's Kitchen opens new donut cafe in Launceston

"Essentially events are an invitation for people to visit anywhere," Mr Griffin said.

"If you look at a Hawthorn footy match, a bunch of Melburnians who might not have been thinking about Launceston are coming to watch their team play, and that motivation to participate is a big deal."

In the past two months Launceston has hosted the Special Olympics, and national championships for over-70s cricket and BMX.

All three events helped fill hotels, cafes and more broadly promote Launceston, and their impacts were not just financial.

"One thing that was really great about the Special Olympics was the social factor," Mr Griffin said.

"Those athletes are phenomenal, they're the epitome of joy.

"Everybody who went anywhere near that event was like 'we want to have more people like that'."

Some of the North's greatest assets - such as Blue Derby and the blossoming mountain biking scene - have been built from scratch.

Others are a case of curating and growing what already exists.

Launceston broke new ground last year when it was recognised by UNESCO as a 'Creative City of Gastronomy'.

Mr Griffin said the certification was evidence of what many already knew the North to be - one of the world's great food regions.

"A group of about 40 people worked on [the bid] for about two years to put that together.

"It was done quietly, no-one was big-wigging it.

"We were just working away to see if we could substantiate a claim on all of the grassroots stuff that was happening - we just needed to bundle them up to prove a point.

"UNESCO said it was one of the better bids they'd seen."

READ MORE: IXL factory demolished to make way for new development

VNT is helping undertake a similar task with the 'Reassign' project that will launch this month.

The project sets out to better tell the stories of Northern heritage sites such as Woolmers, Brickendon and Clarendon House.

Podcasts, augmented reality and other technology will be used to narrate the state's early history to visitors.

"All the research would tell us when people come to Tasmania they're intrigued about the history and heritage," Mr Griffin said.

"We've got all of these stories of people who did remarkably amazing and sometimes not-so-nice things at these estates.

"They're archived and well-researched from academics, we just need a way of narrating them."

Across 25 years Mr Griffin has seen the tourism industry hit by financial crises, terrorist attacks and stock market crashes.

But nothing compares to COVID.

Borders shut nearly overnight, events were cancelled and businesses closed down.

"It was just not something anybody had a contingency plan for," he said.

"The sliver lining was the adaptability and resilience of the sector and the leadership group to go 'alright, you've given us the impossible, let's navigate this'.

"These last two years in a weird way have been invigorating whilst being remarkably challenging, and at the same time something you'd never want to repeat. It was pretty harrowing for everybody."

In the year since COVID has taken a back seat, another issue has hogged the limelight.

The merits of a Tasmanian AFL team - and specifically the $750 million Macquarie Point stadium that has emerged as the deal-breaker - has been the topic of much debate.

Mr Griffin believes the North's responsibility is to focus on delivering the planned $208 million redevelopment of UTAS Stadium, which includes a $99 million indoor sports complex ideal for attracting major events.

"I would say if there's a venue and a stadium argument for Hobart, let them get on with that and figure out how they're going to do that as a community," he said.

"We need to do our bit of the equation, because its not a one-city argument for an AFL team.

"That means focusing on UTAS stadium, bringing that up to spec, and the second part is the indoor sports complex.

"For our Cool Season aspirations that's a game changer - it's not just about footy, it's about hosting basketball, netball, major trade events, expos, big gala gigs.

"It's not one sporting code, it's about what that venue investment can bring the city."

Mr Griffin is in no rush to find his next role.

He plans to have summer off before pinning down his next move, but leaves VNT knowing Northern tourism is as strongly positioned as it's ever been.

"I think Tasmania and the brand of Tasmania has never been more compelling, not just for tourism, but anything Tasmanian," he said.

"We've come through one of the worst disruptions I've ever seen in tourism, travel and the events sector, and we're still punching at levels above 2019.

"We've come out far quicker in terms of recovery than most people would have projected and it comes down to what Australians think of Tasmania - they see us as a remarkably desirable place to be."

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content: