Tourism Council WA

Restaurants, gyms and beauty parlours will be required to keep contact registers from next month despite the state government refusing to say when WA's border will fully reopen.

WA will reopen its interstate border to Victoria and NSW from December 8.

While Perth’s CBD hotels are struggling, many accommodation providers around WA are faring well, if they can find enough staff.

The state government has launched a new initiative to boost Perth’s tourism sector in the wake of COVID-19, amid claims as many as one in five WA tourism businesses face closure.

A mix of good fortune and good management meant WA emerged from the recent lockdown in good shape. How likely is it to happen again?

WA Labor has announced a $217 million tourism package, just hours after the state’s peak tourism body warned that many local tourism businesses were in dire straits.

The federal government’s $1.2 billion tourism package has faced widespread criticism with WA's leading industry body slamming the effort as pork barrelling for marginal electorates.

The state opposition has slammed the state government over the eligibility criteria attached to its latest COVID business relief package which result in a raft of businesses being excluded.

Western Australia's premier insists tourism is thriving within the state's closed borders despite the industry reporting mass cancellations.

Premier Mark McGowan has cast doubt on the likelihood of allowing full interstate travel by Christmas, saying NSW could face months of restrictions.

The state opposition and sections of the business community have criticised the state government’s “skeleton” of a COVID-19 transition plan, with Western Australia still without a date for the reopening of borders.

Industry groups are hoping the March 3 date to reopen Western Australia's borders will resolve skills shortages and provide certainty for businesses.

WA's tourism commission is leaning heavily into a late-2000s synthpop hit for its latest campaign.

The nation’s peak travel body has crowned Exmouth Australia’s top small tourism town, as the tip of the North West Cape prepares for an influx of visitors and a wave of new developments.

Tourism Council WA is urging holidaymakers to keep their bookings in Kimberley towns unaffected by the floods after operators were hit with unnecessary cancellations.

Nexus Airlines has been launched to expand the Western Australian Inter-Regional Flight Network, bolstered by a $4 million investment from the state government.

A new study has found tourism activity in Western Australia has dropped for the first time since the pandemic, with the state's north-west experiencing the largest decline.

The state government has announced a free six-day festival in collaboration with Perth Festival to celebrate Western Australian Indigenous culture and natural biodiversity in early October.

An increase in aviation capacity, better communication and strategic initiatives are part of the overall strategy to boost and maintain the WA tourism sector.

Liv Declerck and Jack McGinn discuss the state of play for the tourism sector in Western Australia.

Mandurah and Dwellingup have been nationally recognised as leading tourism towns, winning first place at the Australian Top Tourism Town Awards 2023.

China Eastern Airlines will trial direct flights between Perth and Shanghai over a four-week block early in 2024, reviving an offering suspended in 2020 at the onset of the pandemic.

The federal government’s revised migration strategy that would cap the number of incoming migrants has drawn both praise and criticism from industry groups.

A reimagined Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre must come with a major new theatre and dedicated exhibition space, the state’s peak tourism lobby says, at it throws its support behind the project.

The state tourism portfolio’s current setup can leave assets stuck between regulatory and tourism agencies, according to Tourism Minister Rita Saffioti.

WA's peak tourism body has slammed the state government’s decision to phase out tours that travel through Horizontal Falls in the Kimberley, estimating a loss of millions of dollars.

A rollcall of peak Western Australian industry groups is urging WA Treasurer Rita Saffioti to take a razor to payroll tax in this year’s state budget to help businesses struggling to cope with escalating costs.

Carolyn Turnbull has resigned as Tourism WA managing director, confirming she would leave the government tourism agency on May 10 after two and a half years of service.

Payroll tax relief has unsurprisingly topped the Chamber of Commerce and Industry WA’s state budget wish-list, ahead of the state’s unveiling of its 2024-25 books on Thursday.

Resources royalty reliance and a lack of action on payroll tax were among the key observations from business groups digesting today’s state budget – the first from Treasurer Rita Saffioti.

Perth Airport has settled a long-running tiff with Qantas over the relocation of its airport terminal, striking a mammoth 12-year agreement worth around $3 billion – the largest in the airline’s history.

Tourism Western Australia has appointed five new board members, including Perth Airport chief executive Jason Waters and Oolin Sunday Island Cultural Tours owner Rosanna Angus.

Visitor spending is up and direct flights are being added but international tourism to WA has slowed.

The Shire of Exmouth and a local Pemberton tour guide have been recognised for their contribution to tourism at the Australian Top Tourism Town Awards 2024.

Perth Airport chief commercial and aviation officer Kate Holsgrove has been selected to chair Tourism Council WA following the resignation of long-serving Andrew Hill.

Our weekly appointments wrap includes Sean Marriott, Melissa Lithgow, Jemma Hutchinson, Kate Holsgrove and Laura Tyler.

The state government has unveiled plans to spend $1.3 million to build a new Western Australia Visitor Centre at Perth Station, slated to open mid-2025.

Hospitality executive Anneke Brown has been announced as the new managing director of Tourism WA, starting a five-year term on December 9.

Perth has been announced as one of seven host cities for the 2027 men’s Rugby World Cup, although costs in relation to attracting matches has not been publicly disclosed.

The federal government will not place trade sanctions on the US in retaliation to the US placing tariffs on Australian products.