Tourism Council WA: More visitors key to hotel room boom
08-Jun-2017 A significant increase in leisure visitors is needed to fill thousands of Perth hotel rooms either recently completed or in the pipeline, according to Tourism Council WA.
The Perth Hotel Development Report 2017, released today, shows 1,485 hotel rooms have been completed in Perth* since 2012, with another 1,421 currently under construction with completion expected either this year or in 2018.
"With a number of hotels currently under construction, as well as several under renovation or with committed government contracts, there are thousands of hotel rooms in the pipeline for delivery in the next few years and many will sit empty without growth in leisure tourism," Tourism Council WA CEO Evan Hall said.
Mr Hall said while the latest International Visitor Survey showed moderate growth, Western Australia had lost significant market share of international visitor spend in Australia over the past several years.
"The ongoing loss of market share when it comes to international expenditure is not conducive to filling the 1,400 new hotel rooms currently under construction or for the creation of jobs for Western Australians," he said.
"It is therefore critical that the new State government's tourism election commitment of $425 million over five years is invested well to realise visitor and job growth, and fill new and existing hotel rooms."
Mr Hall said it was important for Tourism WA to become a more market-focused organisation which drives visitors and jobs into Western Australia as a result of the recently announced Machinery of Government changes.
"It is imperative that Tourism WA is an independent agency specialising in destination marketing and driving tourism to WA through complex international travel trade distribution channels. Tourism is a job of specialists, best delivered by industry experts," he said.