Western Australian Business Tourism Gets Record Funding Boost

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. October 14, 2008

MARCH 21, 2007. The State Government will inject an extra $11.9million over five years into Western Australia's business tourism industry to attract big conferences and business events.

Tourism Minister Sheila McHale said WA would now invest more in attracting business tourism through its convention bureau than any Australian state or territory. "This unprecedented $11.9million will be injected into the business tourism industry through the Perth Convention Bureau and bring total Government funding in this area to almost $17million," Ms McHale said. "It shows how serious this Government is in attracting business tourism for WA which will inject hundreds of millions into the WA economy over the next five years. The extra money will bring significant economic benefits across the entire tourism industry including the accommodation, transport, retail and hospitality sectors."

The Minister said the new money was part of a strategy developed by Tourism Western Australia to attract conferences of 900 delegates or more. "Under the new strategy, the Perth Convention Bureau will be required to meet specific performance targets related to meetings with more than 900 delegates to ensure taxpayers' money is well spent," she said. "The funding will be a major boon to high-capacity venues, such as the Perth Convention Exhibition Centre, Burswood Resort, and the Esplanade Hotel Fremantle."

Perth Convention Bureau executive chairman Graham Muir said the funding commitment recognised the importance of business tourism."This is significant funding and will better equip the bureau to pursue mega-conferences - something we have not had the resources to do properly in the past," Mr Muir said. "We can now work to attract conferences with bigger delegations and we are happy to work towards the stringent key performance indicators that will be set."

Australian Hotels Association CEO Bradley Woods welcomed the funding boost. "Providing additional destination marketing funding to the PCB is vital to attracting new, large-scale conventions and exhibitions to WA and will benefit the entire State," Mr Woods said. "We are pleased this money is not a private bail-out for the Perth Convention Exhibition Centre and that it will be available to all businesses with the capacity to attract major conventions and exhibitions. Through matching funding, the strategy recognises and encourages private sector support for big delegate initiatives - meaning we can continue to work together to achieve more for WA's tourism and hospitality sectors."

WA Tourism Council chairman Scott Henderson said consultation with the sector was broad and provided an opportunity for input from key tourism players. "The funding is a great step forward for the business tourism industry and will ensure we keep up with the significant international growth we have seen over the past decade," Mr Henderson said.