Tourism front and centre at Expo amid $5m funding boost
A range of adventurous career opportunities in WA's tourism and hospitality industry are on show at the Perth Skillswest Careers & Employment Expo, which runs from 25-27 July. The Expo attracts prospective students, career seekers, mature aged career changers, and graduates looking for information on study, training, development, and employment. The Tourism WA Expo stand will be supported by tourism businesses from across the state including Cable Beach Club Resort, The Sebel Mandurah, The Ritz-Carlton Perth, In Culture Tours, Oh Hey! WA, Nyungar Tours, Djinda Kaal Dreaming, Segway Tours WA, Sealink, RAC Arena, Optus Stadium, Down South Creative and Chef Ally Sims. Read more here.

Western Australia showcased in Paris
Last week, Tourism WA took part in several events to mark the launch of the Paris to Perth non-stop flight. Airport activations included welcoming the first passengers with quokka and kangaroo mascots, WA and Qantas bunting and a surfer at Charles de Gaulle airport. Tourism WA Chair Di Bain and Acting Managing Director Steph Underwood met senior leaders of Tourism WA’s key distribution partners in France, in market representatives from Tourism Australia and Qantas, and other important stakeholders at an industry roundtable event at the Australian Embassy. Read more about the French market here. 

Image credit: Brent Winstone, Qantas photographer

WA features in two top Australian weekend publications
A ‘bright’ Busselton experience was featured in The Weekend Australian on Saturday and online, sharing the beauty of the region to a combined audience of around nearly 700,000 people. The story followed a Tourism WA-supported media visit to the Margaret River Region in April, coinciding with the launch of Jetstar’s direct flights between Sydney and Busselton. Meanwhile, new experiences were also pitched to Escape and included in a wrap of ‘Aussie Outback Adventures’. This was syndicated through Escape mastheads both in print and online to a combined audience of around 2.7 million. Read The Weekend Australian story here and the Escape story here. 

Australia’s North West on show at UK luxury travel event
Tourism WA’s UK team recently provided travel agents with in-depth training on cruising in the Kimberley at the CLIA Luxury, Expedition & Small Ship Residential, a travel event in Old Windsor, UK. This exclusive event hosted approximately 60 agents from key partners, and featured a structured format with 17 business sessions, followed by a networking dinner. Western Australia was the sole destination supplier in attendance, creating a fantastic opportunity for the UK team to equip agents with vast knowledge of the Kimberley. The event also gave agents the confidence to engage high value travellers with WA's growing expedition cruising industry, further solidifying Western Australia as a premier cruising destination. Read more about WA’s cruise industry here.

Tactical opportunities in the domestic market
Tourism WA has a number of cooperative marketing campaigns going live over the coming months to drive interstate conversions and bookings. These include tactical partnerships with BKB Holidays, CamperMate, Flight Centre, Helloworld, Holidays of Australia, Luxury Escapes, and Qantas Holidays, designed to not only attract interstate visitors, but deliver longer stays and increased visitor spend. These campaigns will be promoted across paid media channels including press, radio, social and display, as well as the partners’ owned channels including website, email marketing and organic social media. Learn more about partnering with domestic key distribution partners here.   

Applications invited for new cafe at John Forrest National Park
A new commercial opportunity is available to develop and operate a food and beverage offering in John Forrest National Park within the soon-to-be-built park hub complex. The Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions is conducting a competitive process to identify suitably qualified individuals and organisations interested in this opportunity. It forms part of the ongoing $17.2 million services and facilities upgrades at John Forrest National Park and includes the operation of a new café and function centre. The closing date for submissions is 2.30pm (AWST) on Friday, 16 August. Read more about the applications guidelines here. 

Image credit: Gresley Abas Architects