Peak tourism body Tourism Council WA is ramping up its lobbying efforts in a bid to obtain greater funding and direction from government.
The council this week launched a list of priorities for government and is seeking more than $140 million in funding commitments from all political parties.
These contributions will be used to operate a $120 million infrastructure fund for tourism projects, recurrent funding of $8 million a year for the development of a national and global profile, and increasing Tourism WA’s funding by $12 million a year for a range of tourism marketing activities.
The campaign is spearheaded by Tourism Council WA’s new recruit, Karen Connell, who left a lobbying post with the Australian Hotels Association to take up the role as chief executive officer with the tourism body.
Ms Connell is also calling for political parties to commit to establishing a ministry of tourism, a realignment of the Government’s Tourism WA body to focus solely on marketing, and a review of industrial relations legislation.
“You need a ministry to focus on the policy development and other non-core marketing activities, at the moment Tourism WA is trying to be all things to all people,” she said.
“This really requires a whole-of-government approach.”
Ms Connell said funding to tourism in WA had been cut in recent years and the council would lobby hard to change that.
“Tourism WA’s budget has declined as a percentage of total government expenditure by 22 per cent in the past four years and this cannot continue,” she said.
