South West needs direct Asia flights
Entrepreneur Kate Lamont believes the South West "desperately needs" direct international flights from Asia to tap its tourism potential.
The veteran restaurateur and Tourism Australia deputy chairwoman said bringing tourists straight from Singapore and Hong Kong was as important as direct flights from Melbourne and Sydney.
The State Government is considering a $58 million expansion of Busselton airport to widen and lengthen the runway to accommodate interstate flights, with scope for further expansion to receive international flights.
"We desperately need an international airport in our south," Ms Lamont told a Perth tourist function.
"It's air access that will truly unlock the possibility in that region. Asia is so close and it's not just about China, it's about Indonesia and Malaysia as well.
"We need flights to our South West from Singapore and Hong Kong as much as we need them from Melbourne and Sydney." Ms Lamont told _The West Australian _ that she supported a staged approach at Busselton airport but it was important to do the necessary groundwork to ultimately make it international.
"There's significant pent-up demand from consumers on the east coast to fly direct to the South West, so it's important to move on that as quickly as is practical but beyond that I do think there's enormous potential for the growth of food and wine tourism," she said.
A business case for the Busselton expansion, prepared by the South West Development Commission and the City of Busselton, has been with the Department of Regional Development since June.
Busselton mayor Ian Stubbs said the business case supported several direct flights a week from Melbourne and Sydney. Longer term, he said international flights were desirable.
The WA Government would fund the bulk of the cost and $10 million in Federal Government funding has been applied for.
