A survey of tourist accommodation shows occupancy rates in Perth and the North West at record levels in the September quarter of 2011, while regional tourist towns are languishing.
Tourism Council WA CEO Evan Hall said "hotels are booming in Perth city and resource towns from business travel, while tourist towns are falling behind".
"Resource centres like the shire of Roebourne are full at 93% hotel occupancy, while tourist towns like Busselton are struggling at just 41%".
Referring to the latest data from the ABS tourist accommodtion survey, the Australian Hotel's Association had similar concerns.
AHA WA chief Bradley Woods said "In the July to September 2011 quarter, the Perth metropolitan and North West region recorded hotel occupancy rates of 79.2% and 77% respectively, while in tourism centres, such as Margaret River, it is a very different story".
"We have to look beyond WA's state wide average occupancy rates, which have changed little in recent years, and focus on tourism regions which do not have the benefit of business and resource industry travel that Perth and the North West enjoy.
Mr Hall has called for an additional $27 million each year to market WA's regional tourism destinations to the east coast and overseas.
While Mr Woods believes the statistics demonstrate the need for continued investment in marketing and promotional support for the tourism sector, he agreed that the State government's additional support of $60 million for events tourism over the next four years and focus on Asian markets should positively impact tourism in the medium term.
