Tourism activities are due to add A$12 billion to Western Australia’s economy by stimulating growth of high-yield Asian markets and expand tourism infrastructure.
PERTH- Tourism will contribute $12billion to the economy of Western Australia by 2020 using a plan released in December by the State Government. Western Australia Tourism Minister Kim Hames said the State Government Strategy for Tourism in Western Australia 2020 identified seven key areas of focus to help WA’s tourism industry grow in the next decade.
“The strategy recognises the need to build the Experience Extraordinary brand with creative marketing campaigns and expand vital tourism infrastructure such as hotels, aviation and the workforce,” Dr Hames said.
“It identifies opportunities for WA including encouraging business travellers to stay longer or come back for a holiday to experience our extraordinary State, and growing our share of the lucrative Asian markets.”
The Minister said making WA a recognised events destination, increasing visitors to regional WA and providing every visitor the opportunity to have an Aboriginal experience were also important to increasing visitation.
Dr Hames said work on many of the initiatives had already begun, including developing the State’s events calendar and expanding tourism infrastructure.
“Tourism WA has just delivered two excellent world-class events, the Perth International and Margaret River Gourmet Escape; secured routes on China Southern Airlines and Qatar Airways; and developed a host of incentives to help attract hotel investment in Perth and regional WA,” he said.
The Minister said implementation of the strategy, which had been endorsed by Cabinet, would be driven by Tourism WA in partnership with industry and other State Government agencies.
Western Australia receives annually some 6.2 million of visitors, of which 0.7 million comes from overseas markets while 1.1 million comes from other States within Australia.
Luc Citrinot a French national is a freelance journalist and consultant in tourism and air transport with over 20 years experience. Based in Paris and Bangkok, he works for various travel and air transport trade publications in Europe and Asia.
