TOURISM WESTERN AUSTRALIA: WITNESSING A ROBUST AND FASTGROWING INTEREST FROMINDIA MARKET

As a major focus market, India represents an enormous growth opportunity for Western Australia's (WA) visitor economy. In the period May to September 2022, arrivals from India to WA recovered to 87 per cent of pre-COVID levels, which far outstripped the average of 46 per cent from other countries and reflects the Indian markets' rapidly growing interest in WA as a holiday destination. TTJ interacted with Carolyn Turnbull, Managing Director, Tourism WA, who is responsible for promoting WA as an incredible tourism destination, along with delivering world-class tourism experiences and events calendar. She shares with us more about the sun-kissed destination with jaw-dropping, dreamlike scenery and authentic cultural experiences and how they are targeting and working to get in more Indian tourists.

- Prashant Nayak

With Australia opening for tourism and business, how was 2022 for Tourism WA from a global perspective?

Western Australia began reconnecting with the world in 2022 and for Tourism Western Australia, that involved enhancing the visitor experience we offer, delivering a blockbuster year of major events, launching our new global tourism brand, and improving flight access into our state. We implemented these initiatives with the support of the Western Australian Government’s $195 million Reconnect WA package, which allocated funding towards Tourism WA’s aviation, events, destination development and marketing activities.

Pleasingly, by the end of 2022, we began to see the signs that our hard work and investment was paying off, with new visitor statistics showing WA tourism was recovering well from the pandemic. Recent insights indicate that our capital city, Perth, is again thriving as a destination, recording its second-highest domestic spend on record – up to $492 million in November 2022 – which is a 34 per cent lift since November 2019. Domestic visitors are also spending big in WA’s regions, with regional domestic spend for November sitting at $456 million, which represents a 35 per cent jump since pre-COVID.

Meanwhile, January 2023 figures show the number of international flights into WA sits at 76 per cent of pre-COVID levels. Interstate figures are even stronger, showing the number of flights into Perth is now 102 per cent of preCOVID levels. All this data tells us there is strong interstate and international demand for our state, with our new global tourism brand heightening the existing interest in our destination and further driving visitation to WA.