WANDER OUT YONDER CAMPAIGN
125. Ms E.J. KELSBIE to the Minister for Tourism:
I refer to the McGowan Labor
government's commitment to Western Australia's tourism industry
and the lifting of WA's hard border last week. Can the minister update
the house on the measures the McGowan Labor government is taking to encourage
tourists to visit and explore Western Australia, including through new tourism
campaigns; and advise the house how these campaigns will support businesses and
tourism operators throughout Western Australia?
Mr R.H.
COOK replied:
I thank the member for the question.
Tourism is such an important industry in the member's electorate.
As
everyone knows, Western Australia is open for business. We are welcoming people
from overseas and interstate, and tourism is an important part of that.
To let members know just how wide open for business we are, since 3 March, as
the member said, just last week, we have had almost 36 000 interstate arrivals
into Western Australia, almost 10 000 international arrivals and over 45 000
G2GPass applications from people looking to travel interstate. But we need to continue to build our tourism
industry because we want it to be an important and serious part of our economy.
We know that an important part of that is around rebuilding our aviation links.
The McGowan government has committed $75 million to rebuilding those
partnerships with international, interstate and national carriers to ensure
that we can bring people to Western Australia.
One of the things we are doing is
continuing to drive up demand on the east coast. We are doing that through a $12
million Wander Out Yonder campaign to bring people to Western Australia. Wander
Out Yonder has been an overwhelmingly successful campaign in Western Australia
and we are now taking that message to Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria.
This involves a big media buy around social media, newspapers, billboards and
magazines, and television and radio spaces. Also, Madam Speaker, part of the
$12 million Wander Out Yonder campaign is a marketing
blitz right across the community. Whether we are taking quokkas to Queensland
or camels to Cronulla or maybe whale sharks to Werribee, we are looking
to really raise awareness and build demand amongst interstate travellers to get
them to come to Western Australia. We will be utilising those iconic animals as a way to pique people's curiosity and
interest and making sure that we are encouraging holidaymakers to travel around
the state, exploring the stunning coastlines, premium food and wine,
exceptional art and culture, and ancient
Aboriginal history. All of which, as the member knows, are well represented in
her electorate. The campaign features all the regions, including the
Kimberley, Pilbara, coral coast, goldfields–Esperance, south west,
great southern and Perth.
We
are also building into that campaign a partnership with Qantas to promote a two-for-one
return airfare for eastern states travellers. I am very pleased to say,
Madam Speaker, that this campaign is already 85 per cent sold and we are very much looking forward to those people
coming to Western Australia as part of that campaign. Unfortunately,
those people will miss out on the $500 000 tourism voucher program we had for
interstate travellers to support Perth tourism operators.
The Wander Out Yonder campaign has
been extremely successful at driving Western Australians to discover and
rediscover the extraordinary tourism experiences within our own state. The campaign
has encouraged locals to go further and stay
longer, to explore the wonders and adventures on offer in WA. So now we want
the rest of Australia to embrace this campaign to Wander Out Yonder and
really experience what a great place Western Australia is as a tourism
destination. It brings tourism operators back into much more certain times, as
they have done it tough over the last few years. It creates jobs. It continues
to drive our economy. We are very much looking forward to being a success as we
reconnect Western Australia to the rest of the world.