Bob Kucera

Bob Kucera

Former Minister for Disability Services; Sport and Recreation; Citizenship and Multicultural Interests; Seniors

    Major funding boost for visitor servicing in Western Australia

    20/07/2004 1:45 PM
     
    20/7/04

    Towns across Western Australia will get more State Government help to drive local tourism with the announcement today of a huge funding boost for visitor centres.

    Tourism Minister Bob Kucera said more than $3million would be provided to visitor centres over the next four years to ensure each centre was able to offer quality service to visitors to help them enjoy their stay.

    Mr Kucera said the State Government had committed $1million per year from 2005 to 2008 from the Regional Investment Fund (RIF) to help with visitor centre accreditation, staff training and facility upgrades, online reservation systems and marketing.

    “The State Government, in partnership with the tourism industry and local government, wants to play a role in ensuring visitor centres are a key marketing tool for their location and their wider region,” he said.

    “There are 101 visitor centres across WA servicing millions of people each year. They play a vital role in ensuring that visitors have the best possible experience and, importantly, stay longer in towns to do more things.

    “Regional tourism has been a big winner from the Government’s Regional Investment Fund, which has supported a wide range of tourism infrastructure around the State - including the Shark Bay World Heritage Interpretative Centre and the Busselton Jetty Underwater Observatory.”

    The Minister said the new $3million RIF allocation supported key recommendations from a Visitor Servicing Study released in May, which outlined how to best serve the information needs of the State’s domestic and international visitors.

    “The tourism industry has supported this study and the Government has responded with funding to ensure the outcomes to improve visitor servicing is driven and that our joint goals are achieved,” he said.

    In addition to the $3million RIF allocation, the Government will provide $700,000 this year to kickstart the project.

    Key funding areas include:
    • training for visitor centre staff and indigenous traineeships;
    • supporting the development of an industrial award for visitor centre staff;
    • physical upgrades for visitor centres or assistance to co-locate with other services such as telecentres;
    • business development grants to increase income streams to visitor centres; and
    • development of online tourism product reservation systems.
    An implementation group involving the Visitor Centre Association of WA, local government and tourism industry representatives will provide advice on funding priorities.

    The Visitor Servicing Study is available online in the ‘Industry publications’ section of http://www.westernaustralia.com

    Details on how individual visitor centres can apply for funding will be made available through Tourism Western Australia.

    Minister's office: 9213 7000