New statistics show that international visitors do not see Western Australia as a holiday destination, with more and more 'tourists' coming to WA for business purposes only.
New statistics show that international visitors do not see Western Australia as a holiday destination, with more and more 'tourists' coming to WA for business purposes only.
The International Overnight Visitor Results showed that the number of business visitors to WA in the year ending March 2011 rose by 23.3 per cent, with holiday/pleasure visits up by 2.3 per cent and visits for the purpose of education increasing 2.5 per cent.
Tourism Minister Kim Hames said that business travelers currently make up 16.4 per cent of all international visitors, up from 13.6 per cent in the year ending December 2010.
Meanwhile, the 'visiting friends and relatives' sector fell 3.2 per cent.
International visits to Western Australia have risen in the year ending March 2011 due to a big increase in business visitors and significant growth in the Chinese, Indonesian and USA markets.
The International Overnight Visitor Results showed an overall increase of 2.6 per cent to 706,600 visitors to WA in the 12 months to March.
"This is a very pleasing result coming off the back of a 0.7 per cent decline in international visitors to WA in the previous survey for the 12 months to December 2010," Dr Hames said.
"Better still, the amount those visitors spent while here rose by 9.5 per cent - the second highest increase in Australia - to $1.9million," he added.
The most significant growth in visitors came from China 15,200 (+36 per cent), Indonesia 28,900 (+27.5 per cent) and the USA 45,400 (+19.9 per cent).
"China continues to show enormous potential, which we hope to tap into even further once direct flights to Perth are established and Tourism WA launches its new China marketing strategy."
However Tourism Council of WA CEO Evan Hall warned that WA is not ready for the Chinese tourist, with not enough hotel rooms, Mandarin speaking staff or translated tourism guides to service this booming market.
"If they don't have a good experience they will stop coming" said Mr Hall.
"We need a whole-of-government approach to get Western Australian tourism 'China Ready."
Mr Hames said Tourism WA is developing strategies to increase the contribution of business travel to WA's visitor economy.
"These include building the meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions (MICE) sector; positioning WA as a holiday destination to business visitors by encouraging them to extend their visit or to come back to holiday with their families; and creating events and experiences alongside conventions and conferences."
