Interstate tourism push needed to capitalise on WA hotel boom
The State Government needs to do more to attract interstate visitors to Western Australia as thousands of new hotel beds are set to become available, Tourism Minister Kim Hames has conceded.
Dr Hames said a boost in the number of new hotels being built across Perth meant WA was on track to exceed a target of 1,900 new rooms by 2020.
PHOTO: The proposed 204-bed Hilton hotel in Northbridge is slated to be finished by early 2017. (Supplied: Hilton Worldwide)
His comments came as Hilton Worldwide unveiled plans for a new 204-bed hotel in Northbridge under its Double Tree brand, due for completion in early 2017.
Western Australia has grappled with accommodation shortages and high prices due to strong demand generated by the mining boom.
"The complaints before [were] that people could never get in, there were so many corporate travellers here because of our strength in the mining industry that it was really hard to find a bed and for that reason they tended to be more expensive," he said.
"Now the demand's come off a bit there's still strong occupancy rates, but a much broader and diverse occupancy, not just corporate travellers but tourists and visitors as well."
Double Tree has committed to also building hotels in Fremantle and at Elizabeth Quay, where there will also be a Ritz Carlton.
Others projects in the works include a luxury Como Hotel at the Old Treasury redevelopment and a Westin Hotel at the former FESA headquarters site in the CBD.
Australian Hotels Association (AHA) chief executive Bradley Woods said while the level of investment was a positive sign for the industry, there was a risk of oversupply if demand did not grow as the mining sector slowed.
But Mr Woods said interstate tourism was the most important growth market for WA and the amount of money spent on marketing needed to be doubled.
"The sheer number of seats that are available from the east coast on aeroplanes is substantially higher than it is from the international market," Mr Woods said.
"It's the quickest, fastest and most efficient way of bringing new tourists and visitors into Western Australia.
"We've got to see Western Australia promoted on television in the eastern states, we've got to see Western Australia promoted in newspapers and magazines, on billboards and that's just not at the level that it needs to be now."
Dr Hames said the Government had increased the amount of money it spent on marketing but conceded interstate numbers needed improvement.
"Our interstate market isn't as strong as we would like it," he said.
"Most Australians are on the east coast, a lot of them haven't come to Western Australia and we are completely different to what they have to offer over there.
"We did spend a lot of extra money interstate with the additional funds we had [following the last election] but the numbers haven't grown as strongly as we would like.
"So we will focus a lot on that in our next batch of money."
Source: ABC News, Jade Macmillan, July 7th 2015
