Article – WA tourism sector set for resurgence in wake of mining boom

2 September 2014
ABC News
Western Australia’s tourism sector is gearing up to take advantage of a resurgence in the industry as the resources boom eases.
Australian Tourism Export Council managing director Peter Shelley said accommodation was becoming more available and prices had fallen.
He said the resources boom had limited the availability of accommodation and also created labour shortages, but that was now changing as the economy levelled out.
Mr Shelley said he had received positive feedback at a roundtable meeting with WA tourism leaders last week.
New air routes to China and the Middle East had also opened up fresh tourism markets.
“With the easing of the resources boom, it’s opening up for tourism to come back strongly, which is what we’re seeing,” Mr Shelley said.
“And it’s coincidental because there’s been quite a growth in air capacity and growth in the actual strength of the product in WA as well over that period of time.”
According to Tourism WA, the number of international visitors to WA grew to more than 776,500 in the 12 months to March, up 4.3 per cent on the same period last year.
The number of overnight visits by interstate and intrastate tourists to Perth increased by 8.6 per cent from 7.1 m in 12 months ending in March 2013 to approximately 7.7m by the end of March this year.
There were also seven accommodation projects with 1,331 new rooms due to become available on the Perth market between 2015 and 2018.
Mr Shelley said it would make a significant difference.
“Where you need to have firm availability going forward and be able to rely on that to sell into the market, that hasn’t been there in the past and now that’s opening up,” he said.
“And there’s even new accommodation coming onto the books as well, so that’s very exciting from the industry’s point of view.”
Rottnest Island is on the itinerary of many WA visitors.
Courtesy of ABC News