Nearly 78 per cent of jobs lost in the state's tourism sector hail from regional areas as the industry suffers a near 10 per cent drop in domestic visitor nights, new data shows.
The announcement is below:
A downturn in domestic travel has seen regional areas of Western Australia hardest hit by job losses in the accommodation sector, according to analysis by Tourism & Transport Forum (TTF).
The ABS Survey of Tourist Accommodation (Small Area Data) reveal that 434 of 557 jobs (77.9 per cent) lost in Western Australia's accommodation sector in the six months to the end of March this year were outside Perth.
TTF Managing Director Christopher Brown said the figures show regional tourism is suffering.
"The number of international tourists coming to Australia is down compared to last year, especially in terms of holiday visitors" Mr Brown said, "but of even more concern is a near 10 per cent drop in domestic visitor nights in the year to the end of March."
"As a labour-intensive, service industry, tourism jobs are very vulnerable to dwindling demand, and there's a direct correlation between those falls and tourism employment.
"Accessibility is a key factor impacting on Western Australia's regional destinations and a further drop in tourism activity will see more job losses, especially in more remote destinations.
"Tourism directly employs more than 47,000 West Australians, so 557 jobs is a fall of 1.2 per cent and the impact of that can be serious, particularly in areas reliant on tourism for economic activity."
Mr Brown said sustainable tourism is vital to Australia's economic future.
"Rejuvenating the tourism industry needs a holistic plan, as outlined in The Jackson Report: Informing the National Long-Term Tourism Strategy.
"The Report emphasises the need for a whole of government approach to tourism, as an industry which directly employs almost half a million Australians and generates $89 billion a year in economic activity.
"In the short term, we're calling on the Federal government to provide an immediate injection of funds for tourism marketing to help protect jobs, especially in regional areas."
