Western Australia's visitor centre network must be rebuilt

Tourism Council Western Australia (TCWA) Chief Executive Evan Hall has called for strong local and state government support for visitor centres following the release of a report into the sustainability of Western Australia’s visitor centre network.

The report, The future of visitor centres in WA, was commissioned by Tourism WA and shows visitor centres are under strain despite their strong contribution to regional economies.

Hall explains “visitor centres are under strain from declining revenue, which is putting regional tourism dollars at risk."

Highlighting the value of visitor centres, Hall adds "tourists who use Visitor Centres stay twice as long and spend twice as much.

“Tourists spend about $50-$100 extra in the local region as a result of dropping into the local Visitor Centre.

“Unfortunately these tourism dollars are spent in the region not in the visitor centres so they are chronically short of cash.

“There are too many visitor centres just scrapping by with volunteer staff and meagre funding from local government.

“Local and state government should invest in their visitor centres, but they should also expect reform of the visitor centre network.

“We welcome the royalties for regions funding for regional visitor centres that has been put aside in the State Budget.

“This funding should focus on reform to build a network of sustainable Super Visitor Centres that deliver high quality accredited services to tourists.”

Visitor Centres across WA will be gathering in Kalgoorlie next week for the 2014 WA Visitor Servicing Conference to consider the report.

Click here to download The future of visitor centres in WA report. 

Click here for more information on the 2014 WA Visitor Servicing Conference.

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