Tourism left behind in boom
Former WA premier and tourism minister Richard Court believes the State has "dropped the ball" on tourism because the resources boom made it "too easy" to generate wealth.
Mr Court said it was time for WA to "think a bit bigger" and lift the quality of the tourism products being approved to target increasingly wealthy and mobile Asian tourists.
On a day of warnings for the State's competitiveness in the global tourism market, Perth Airport chief executive Brad Geatches and building heavyweight Dale Alcock also voiced concerns.
"We've dropped the ball," Mr Court told a business forum in the Swan Valley on Friday.
"We've had so many other good things happening for us. It's been easy for us with the wealth that's been generated from resources.
"Tourism will be a great employer in the future if you get the product right.
"Countries like Japan, Korea and India, as these emerging economies travel more they need a certain type of product."
He said WA had to understand what overseas tourists wanted and provide it. "From a local government and State Government approvals point of view, we need to be constantly lifting the quality of the tourism product that we're offering," Mr Court said.
He pointed to his experience during a recent trip to the Cots-wolds in England as an example of how big-scale tourism in a rural setting could be done well.
"And I think we're getting to the stage here where we need to think a bit bigger and make it easier for when people want to make a substantial investment into a new tourism product," he said.
Responding to Mr Court's comments, Tourism Minister Kim Hames said the sector brought in $8.3 billion a year and supported 94,000 jobs.
"I agree we need to develop our overseas markets with a mature and effective approach and that's why we support the China Ready program, for example, where our tourism operators and hoteliers understand market demand, the needs of travellers from diverse areas and how we can really promote WA as the destination of choice," Dr Hames said.
"There's more to do but we're on the right track."
Mr Geatches told the business forum that WA must be competitive on cost because international tourism was "a truly globally competitive environment".
Speaking on the sidelines, Mr Alcock said WA's approach to tourism was too "stop-start".
