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Parliamentary Questions


Question Without Notice No. 912 asked in the Legislative Council on 30 November 2017 by Hon Jim Chown

Parliament: 40 Session: 1


MARGARET RIVER GOURMET ESCAPE
      912. Hon JIM CHOWN to the minister representing the Minister for Tourism:
I refer to the McGowan government's recent announcement about the future of the Margaret River Gourmet Escape and the decision to expand it to the Swan Valley.
      (1) Given the event will be staged in two regions over two weeks, instead of one region over four days from 2019, can the minister confirm funding for the event will be significantly increased? If yes, by how much; and, if no, why not?
      (2) Will the established brand ''Margaret River Gourmet Escape'' be maintained beyond 2018; and, if not, what will the event be called?
      (3) Given the Minister for Tourism's comments during question time on 23 November 2017 about the event simply ''giving a holiday to celebrity chefs'', what is the minister's position on having international influencers at this event?
      (4) How does the minister intend to attract interstate and international visitors to both regions without the drawcard of international chefs and given the significant distance between the Swan Valley and Margaret River?
Hon ALANNAH MacTIERNAN replied:
I thank the member for the question. The following information has been provided to me by the Minister for Tourism.
      (1) I would, firstly, like to correct the honourable member in relation to the period in which a future event will be held. The event is envisaged to be held over two weekends rather than over a full two weeks. The recent announcement of an expanded food and wine event provides an opportunity to showcase and enhance our superb regional gourmet food and wine, drive visitation to our state and offer new and supportive opportunities for food and wine tourism. In addition, this event is a tangible opportunity to enhance regional and, indeed, statewide trade and investment outcomes for the food and wine industry.
      (2) A competitive process will select a high-quality event that drives tourism visitation and showcases our key gourmet food and wine regions and provides the best value to the taxpayers of Western Australia beyond 2018.
      (3)–(4) The competitive tender process will be undertaken to determine the best way for such an event to be delivered. It is therefore not possible to pre-empt the event or the event format that will be successful in being selected.