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Parliamentary Questions


Question Without Notice No. 960 asked in the Legislative Assembly on 19 November 2020 by Mr D.T. Redman

Parliament: 40 Session: 1

TOURISM — FAMILIARISATION TOURS

960. Mr D.T. REDMAN to the Minister for Tourism:

I have a supplementary question. Can the minister confirm whether we are open to tourism from Queensland, Tasmania and the ACT or not, because it would appear his agency does not seem to think so?

Mr P. PAPALIA replied:

That is a bit of a leap from a three-person delegation coming for a familiarisation with tourism attractions in Western Australia to not being open. Obviously, we are in a pandemic. Things are a little unpredictable. As recently as a few days ago, a state that we were having a controlled border with and we were welcoming visitors from has gone into complete lockdown—the toughest lockdown in the country, in excess of what Victoria had. Therefore, I would commend Tourism WA for being a little prudent about the use of taxpayers' money that is focused on attracting visitors in the event that there may not be much of a market right now because people may be inclined to be a little reserved about travelling in this environment. They may be a little bit cautious about leaving their own state in the event that a border arrangement may change at short notice. I would commend Tourism WA.

I will finish in not really giving much credence to the member's question by saying that Tourism Western Australia is demonstrably the best tourism agency in the country. In 2018, we went from inheriting a disaster in tourism from your lot, in an absolutely depressed environment in which no thought was being given to what would happen at the end of the business travel boom that was happening in the mining sector, to us implementing a two-year action. It started in 2018 when we had the biggest out-of-state visitor numbers in history, only exceeded in 2019 when we got even bigger numbers. We were on track for even bigger numbers in 2020 and then, of course, the pandemic intervened. Nevertheless, the Wander Out Yonder campaign is the best and most successful intrastate campaign in history. We have the best tourism market in the country. We have more people travelling in Western Australia's regions than any other state has, and that is a big part of what the Treasurer just referred to. The hospitality, accommodation and tourism sectors have been the big contributors to the growth in jobs since we got back into operation.