Industry that punches above its weight wants more support

TOURISM is a challenging industry in the best of times, sensitive to the fickle winds of economic change and consumer taste.

But in Western Australia, many in the sector believe another issue is that government neglects the importance of tourism in a state dominated by resources.

But this perennially unhappy state of affairs does not appear to have taken a terrible toll on the representative leadership, which gathered at WA Business News to discuss this and other issues affecting tourism in WA.

To any outsider, it would appear that extroversion is required to be successful in tourism. This, of course, means the sector’s decision makers won’t shy away from their belief that the state is underweight when it comes to providing services and funding.

While not unique among the state’s industries in this regard, tourism leaders believe their industry is different because its true value lies in its significant worth to WA.

Australia’s South West chairman Clive Nelthorpe said the tourism sector was the third biggest employer and the third largest revenue earner of any industry in WA.

This point was supported by others at the forum, including Tourism WA chairperson and head of Lamont’s winery and restaurant, Kate Lamont, who suggested it was arguably the second greatest contributor in both of these fields, although gathering accurate data in such a broad industry as tourism was difficult.

“Tourism is as important as mining and agriculture to the Western Australian economy,” Ms Lamont said.

It also attracts domestic and foreign investment dollars to the state and the variety of tourism offerings available (from major sporting events to food, wine and entertainment experiences) all add to the vibrancy of the state and assist in retaining its population.

But the sector is also one of the most vulnerable to uncontrollable (and often unforeseen) economic and environmental factors.

Australian Hotels Association executive director Bradley Woods said tourism was usually hit first and the hardest, as seen in the past 12 months with the global economic downturn.

“We’re one of those industries that’s hit immediately by any economic ramifications that reverberate through the community or through the international markets,” he said.

As such, the tourism industry is calling for a whole-of-government approach to sanction wide-ranging support, specifically in the form of a long-term strategic plan for the industry in WA.

Mr Woods emphasised that a state government strongly committed to tourism beyond the usual “lip service” could deliver an agile agency, namely Tourism WA, flexible enough to deal with fluctuating market circumstances.

“We need a long-term strategic plan from the state that is driven at a political level,” Mr Woods said.

“It doesn’t matter who the successive ministers are, just that they are committed to it.”

Australia’s North West chairman and former state minister for tourism, Ian Laurance, was applauded, literally, for calling on the government to demonstrate its belief in tourism by building a new headquarters for the Tourism Council, establishing a second international airport in Broome, and redeveloping the Old Treasury buildings as a five-star hotel for the CBD.

This is despite Premier Colin Barnett failing to include any tourism projects in the list of priority infrastructure investment opportunities presented to the federal government as part of the Commonwealth’s Infrastructure Australia stimulus program.

“I’ve been to the premier about this and told him he should say ‘we believe in tourism and there’s the headquarters’,” Mr Laurance said.

Tourism Council Western Australia chief executive Graham Moss believes the biggest challenge is convincing the government just how important the tourism industry really is.

Australian Tourism Export Council WA chair, Margaret Wilson, said a whole-of-government approach and a whole-of-industry approach, which to date has been missing, would be beneficial.

“It’s time this industry got its act together and spoke with one voice ... we need people up there leading with passion,” Ms Wilson said.

Ms Lamont said in order to grow tourism there needed to be a shared responsibility between government and industry.

Regardless of orchestrating a shared approach or not, Mr Nelthorpe, who is also general manager of inbound travel outfit Motive Tours and grade four classmate of Mr Laurance, said the current level of government financial support was not up to scratch.

“In terms of projected budgets expected for tourism development in the coming year, it’s abysmal, it’s a very poor situation,” he said.

Labour pains

The prospect of a return to boom-like conditions in WA has many industries, including the tourism sector, worried about the effect this will have on the level of skilled labour available to the market.

Ms Lamont is adamant there continues to be a very serious disconnect between what the industry needs and the skills available.

“We have to recognise that it’s not about competing with the mining industry; it’s about being pragmatic about what’s a reasonable monthly income to live on,” she said.

“We have people who work in the industry as a career and the second stream is transient – we need to value and treat both streams with respect.

“And if we want to retain talent and attract talented young people to our industry, I mean (we need to) look at our productivity and our remuneration and be serious about our thinking.”

Esplanade Hotels Group proprietor and managing director Marylyn New agreed, although she does have some possible solutions involving immigration and visas.

“With what’s coming up in WA we’re already in trouble, we know we’re in trouble, and it’s too late to train them,” Ms New said.

“The only way to address it is open up skilled immigration ... or extend the 20-hour visa for students to work.”

Beyond labour considerations and state government funding, numerous obstacles have arisen during the past 12 months on the back of the economic downturn.

The strength of the Australian dollar, growing from US61 cents almost exactly one year ago to about US93 cents this week, has made holidaying overseas more attractive for WA travellers, taking potential tourist dollars out of the state, while international tourists from markets such as the UK have been less inclined to visit our shores.

This has been compounded by the influx of low-cost airlines now available in WA and the trend towards making spontaneous airline and accommodation bookings online with websites such as wotif.com and lastminute.com.

Mr Nelthorpe cited recent air traffic data pointing to a 26 per cent increase over the previous year in passenger numbers leaving Perth on airlines servicing Asia in the past 12 months.

“It’s so easy to travel outside of Australia for those dollars and so hard to fly in, what chance do we have to try and hold people in WA to stay at our properties?” Mr Nelthorpe said.

“They’re not going down to Bunbury for $400 a night, they’re going to Bangkok.”

Opportunities

Despite these challenges and a perceived lack of support from government, the tourism industry believes it potentially has a few aces up its sleeve in terms of growth opportunities.

Ms Wilson highlighted backpackers, and in particular the increasing number of hostel-staying baby boomers known as “flashpackers” as a potential boon for the state, along with WA’s access to the growing numbers of tourists coming from the Asia-Pacific including India and Hong Kong.

The health and wellness tourism market, industrial tourism involving flyovers and visits to the state’s mine sites and even train journeys were also suggested by Ms Wilson as potentially lucrative areas for WA to focus on.

Ms Lamont pointed out that indigenous tourism, which features in Tourism WA’s strategic plan to guide the agency over the next five years, is WA’s one unique selling point.

Experience Perth chairman and Perth 2011 ISAF Sailing World Championships event director, John Longley, emphasised the success of the largely unaided cruise industry as a big opportunity.

“When it started years ago, in 2000, I think we had four to five ships come in a year; last year we had 40 and it’s increasing,” he said.