Push to fill Perth hotel rooms

The McGowan Government has asked Tourism Western Australia to immediately reprioritise $2 million of its current budget to help fill empty hotel rooms in Perth.

A downturn in business travel, coupled with more hotels coming into the market, saw hotel occupancy rates in June 2017 hit 75.6 per cent - one of the lowest levels seen in seven years.

Tourism WA will work with its co-operative marketing partners - including airlines, travel agents and travel websites - to offer incentives for people to travel now and take advantage of the great choice of hotels at very reasonable rates.

These partners will add to Tourism WA's financial commitment, bringing the total campaign value well above $2 million.

Since 2012, an extra 1,611 hotel rooms have been added to the Perth CBD hotel stock including Crown Towers, Peppers Kings Square, Tribe Hotel, Fraser Suites, and Quest Adelaide Terrace.  Another 1,851 rooms are scheduled to open by 2020.

Comments attributed to Tourism Minister Paul Papalia:

"The hotel sector is hurting and we need to focus on direct campaigns that drive visitation to fill planes, get visitors to Perth and fill our hotel rooms.

"Tourism WA has been working hard to get the message out there that Perth is no longer expensive and there are plenty of quality accommodation options to choose from.

"This campaign will target markets such as Singapore, Malaysia, China, Sydney and Melbourne where we know people are open to making the decision to travel at short notice.

"Visitor attraction remains the State Government's number one tourism priority - everything we are doing is about growing visitor numbers to create jobs, develop business opportunities and diversify the economy.

"The $2 million campaign, coupled with the introduction of a Tourism WA East Coast advocate, will lead to a direct increase in visitors."