Doyen of the Western Australian tourism industry, Laurie O’Meara, has been awarded the highest recognition of individual contribution to the industry at the 2006 WA Tourism Awards.
Doyen of the Western Australian tourism industry, Laurie O’Meara, has been awarded the highest recognition of individual contribution to the industry at the 2006 WA Tourism Awards.
Current chair of the Rottnest Island Authority, deputy chair of Tourism Western Australia and operator of the Best Western Emerald Hotel, Mr O’Meara was awarded the Sir David Brand medal in recognition of his contribution to tourism, predominantly in an unpaid or honorarium capacity, at both state and national levels.
Mr O’Meara is also known as the prime initiator of the tourism accreditation system in WA, which later became the template for the national tourism accreditation system.
Mr O’Meara said he was fortunate to be involved in the tourism industry at a time when government was increasingly recognising the value of tourism for the WA economy, boosting its annual tourism funding by $20 million and injecting $26 million into the Rottnest Island upgrade.
“Always with those sorts of things you immediately start thinking about how lucky you are to be in the right place at the right time,” Mr O’Meara told WA Business News.
Despite the good news, however, Mr O’Meara said tourism was a vulnerable industry, and while domestic travel had been favoured over international travel in recent years, the tables were now turning.
“While we had a bit of step up when there were nasty things happening overseas…I think that people are now accepting the fact that that’s life and we’re going anyway,” he said.
With domestic tourism numbers dropping Australia wide, the tourism industry is also starting to feel the effect of what is known as the ‘plasma screen syndrome’, competing against luxury goods for consumer discretionary spend.
Mr O’Meara also points to the fact that the pressures being faced by the labour force means that people are taking less, or shorter, holidays.
“Something like 70 million weeks of holidays are accrued in Australia and not being taken by the labour force. So because they’re not taking the holidays, that is affecting domestic tourism,” he said.
Mr O’Meara said the industry was also tackling the effect of the skills shortage on tourism and hospitality businesses, particularly in regional areas.
The awards also recognised Broome-based Willie Creek Pearl Farm Tours, which won the Sir David Brand award for tourism, and the significant tour and transport operators category.
Other winners included Fremantle Prison (major tourism attraction), Skywest Airlines (major tour and transport operators), Hyatt Regency Perth (meetings and business tourism, and tourism restaurants and catering services), the Duxton Hotel Perth (luxury accommodation) and the Bibbulmun Track (significant tourist attraction).
Tourism Minister Sheila McHale inducted Voyagers El Questro, Sandalford, Wines, Balingup Heights Cedar Chalets, and InterContinental Perth Burswood into the hall of fame.
