How Pittman is keeping Bali Wake Park afloat: “It’s about passion and reputation”
09/09/2020, by Yeoh Siew Hoon, in Distribution, Marketing, News, Regions, Sectors
When you have lived to the age of 70, worked in gold mines, ran your first business at the age of 21, operated the first cable ski park in Perth in 1986 and ran Air Bali for 15 years, there’s very little that can faze you.
Which is why Greg Pittman, who’s been running the Bali Wake Park for the past six years, is going with the flow of things. “It is the most challenging time in my career but hey, I wake up, I am still breathing, my kids are great and my wife, my soulmate, of 49 years is still beside me.
“Financially, this will hurt but I have good health. You can’t buy good health. Plus, I don’t want to retire. So I look at the positive side.”
Greg Pittman, with his wife of 49 years, is going with the flow of things.
The positive is that Bali Wake Park has turned its sights on the local market, a segment it didn’t have to tap in the past because of demand from inbound visitors. Local market means expats, locals and foreigners who chose to remain in Bali as well as domestic travellers from cities like Surabaya, Jakarta and Bandung.
“Domestic borders are open, and locals are coming in,” he said.
Asked if he has to change his operations in any way to cater more to local tastes versus say Australian preferences, he said, “No they also like nasi goreng (fried rice) and beer. The world is changing. People like and do the same things now.”
Pittman, who has lived in Bali for the last 28 years, said that when the lockdown happened in early April, there were lots of Russians on the island and most stayed on, preferring to remain in Bali than return home.
His park opened May 1 and first, the stranded tourists came. Then the local expatriates started bringing in their kids. “It’s the best kind of activity, outdoors, sea breeze, and it’s good for kids to put down their iPads and go wakeboarding. It teaches them discipline and keeps them fit.”
Business has started dipping from the tourist market because Pittman said most have returned home. Thankfully, this coincides with the opening to domestic markets.
He’s introduced hygiene measures and safety protocols in the park – hand sanitisers, masks, social distancing. Staff are on half salaries and they work half a month.
“It’s been a good time to clean out the drawers, update the SOPs, cleaning, upgrading – things you don’t do when you are busy. It’s looking really good and immaculate, now we have to wait for the people,” he laughs. “Fortunately rent has been waived for now and that has helped a lot.”
Pittman invested in an online distribution engine using BeMyGuest a year ago, which was seeing good inbound bookings. Now, it’s seeing bookings picking up from Traveloka and he’s glad he’s invested in the booking engine.
Prior to Covid, his business was largely expatriates as well as Australians. “I remember my partner saying to me some years ago, don’t forget the locals, they have the money. Now we want to do more with the Indonesian market, team building activities are a big thing here,” said Pittman.
His website offers all-day ticket prices for locals and discounts if they bring the kids. In August, it offered a Kid Special of Rp450,000 for an all-day pass for both the Cable Park and Aqualand.
In terms of marketing, he’s stopped Google Ads for a while but uses Facebook for social engagement. The best advertising, he said, is the billboards along Bali roads. “We saw the billboard on the road and we Googled it.”
A high percentage comes from friends and recommendations, especially those from mothers. “People believe mothers.”
He admits though that he could brush up on his digital marketing. “That’s my worst thing. Business grows by word of mouth, we don’t have to do a lot. And usually people pre-book.”
He does agree in these challenging times, he needs to do better with digital marketing and distribution. “The new generation books online, especially in Indonesia, and we want to work more closely with local OTAs to grow the market.”
The good news is, Bali Wake Park has been profitable from the start. The biggest investment was in building up the six-hectare park which also encompasses the Dolphin Park, Bali Helicopters and a restaurant.
“We’ve always been profitable, until now. But we will ride it out. It’s been an interesting journey. You do what you have to do, made many mistakes but the important thing is to get there, have good passion, have a good reputation.”
• All images credit: Bali Wake Park
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