Big drop in eastern States tourists a 'black hole' for WA

A dramatic slump in the number of visitors from other States has been described as "the black hole of WA tourism" that needs to be plugged by a significant influx of marketing money.

Tourism Council WA chief executive Evan Hall said the decline in interstate leisure tourists in the year to September - from 385,000 visitors to 271,000 - was massive.

"We are growing visitors from Singapore and China but not as fast as we are losing them from Sydney and Brisbane," he said.

Mr Hall said $27 million - to match what is being spent in many other States - needed to be allocated on promoting WA in the Eastern States each year.

"Tourism WA just doesn't have enough funding to properly market WA in the east coast," he said.

"When government properly funds tourism promotion, you get a huge pay off.

"Just look at what the government has achieved in China - 56 per cent growth over the past year through well-funded marketing."

Tourism Minister Kim Hames said the interstate downturn was disappointing.

"If we have capacity to increase visitors from that market, then I would be keen to do so," he said. "This is an important sector for WA's tourism industry."

The figures are contained in the latest National Visitor Survey quarterly update. But it is not all bad news. Intrastate numbers were up 16.3 per cent and international visitors increased 8.2 per cent - both above the national average.