A 70 per cent increase in flights to Broome in the past 18 months has led to a tourism boom in the region with operators saying there are not enough beds in town to meet demand.
A series of new tourism developments and upgrades, totalling more than $100 million, to existing tourism facilities in Broome indicate confidence in the region and will help to ease the pressure on current operators.
New tourism developments include the recently approved Paspailey Pearls $40 million Pinctada resort, the $30 million Rendezvous Sanctuary Resort (construction expected to begin within a week), and $15 million Frangipani resort (construction expected to begin December, 2004).
Existing operators who have recently upgraded or are in the process of upgrading facilities include Cable Beach Club with an $11 million refurbishment, Seashells Resort with a $10 million refurbishment and an upgrade to the Tropicana Inn.
Rapley Wilkinson has been involved with the construction of most of the resorts in Broome. Managing director Alan Thomas said there were not enough beds in town to accommodate for the numbers flying in.
“Broome has really expanded for tourism, and with cheaper airfares and increased direct flights, more people are considering Broome as a holiday destination,” Mr Thomas said.
Broome International Airport CEO Kim Maisey said that tourism levels in Broome right now were well above historical highs.
“In a recent review with Qantas, they indicated that the limitation on extending the number of flights was the amount of accommodation available,” Mr Maisey said.
“We have seen the peak period extended, which is pushing the shoulder periods out for operators from three months to six to eight months.
“It has been the question of the chicken and the egg for a while for tourism – whether flights should increase first or capacity should increase but now that flights have, capacity will follow.”
Mr Maisey added that Virgin Blue’s direct flights from Perth had a significant impact on reducing the cost of flying and that a lot more people were now flying rather than driving to Broome.
Qantas flies direct to Broome from Perth nine times a week, Virgin Blue three times and Skywest seven times.
Direct flights also come from Melbourne and Sydney (Qantas), Adelaide (Virgin Blue), and Darwin (Skywest and Airnorth Regional).
