Qantas and Perth Airport announce major aviation partnership
In a major milestone for the state’s tourism sector, Qantas and Perth Airport have agreed upon a new 12-year deal to deliver more international and domestic flights for WA. The landmark agreement includes a $3 billion investment in new terminal facilities and a new parallel runway, where Qantas and Jetstar will relocate all services to once completed. The historic partnership will elevate Western Australia’s reputation as a growing passenger hub emerging as a global aviation player. Read more here. 

The Dream Collective launches
Tourism WA and Tourism Council WA have today unveiled The Dream Collective Western Australia. The program has been developed to promote and showcase the best of Western Australia’s tourism offerings, recognising the state's leading tourism operators who consistently deliver high-quality visitor experiences. Tourism operators must meet the eligibility criteria and participate in an annual evaluation process across a set of criteria, including customer reviews, online platforms, marketing activity, training, accreditation, and awards to be considered for inclusion. Applications are now open, closing 12 July. Apply here.

Italian football fever takes over Perth
Last week, Perth celebrated all things Italy as Tourism WA’s AS Roma v AC Milan match lit up Optus Stadium. The Italian Serie A teams drew a crowd of more than 56,500 passionate football fans to Optus Stadium. The next day, the WA Italian Club & Dorrien Gardens and Perth Soccer Club were abuzz for the lively Little Italy Festival, to encourage travelling football fans to stay longer in our state. This free event featured Italian food trucks, music, and entertainment for the whole family. Complementing the activity, the Qantas Rome to Perth direct flights will soon resume, creating a direct connection between WA and Italy. Read more here.

Image credit: Soco Studios

Regional communities boosted by new event funding round
Up to $1.2 million is being awarded to 73 developing regional events through the 2024-25 Regional Events Scheme (RES). Tourism WA’s annual funding round helps to attract new visitors and stimulate local economies, and the latest round features nine Regional Aboriginal Events, funded through the Regional Aboriginal Events Scheme (RAES), which supports events showcasing Aboriginal experiences. This year's RES round will fund 16 new events and the scheme is supported through Royalties for Regions. Read more here. 

Heyscape cabins to pop up in
Kings Park
This winter, visitors to Kings Park will have the chance to stay overnight as part of a first-ever accommodation trial with tiny cabins operator Heyscape. The trial will run during the Lightscape winter festival, which last year attracted nearly 180,000 visitors, and the cabins include a bed, kitchenette, Wi-Fi, and environmentally sustainable bathroom amenities. The low-impact cabins are eco-friendly and operate via solar panels, composting and potable water. The cabins will pop up during Lightscape, which runs from Friday, 7 June to Sunday, 28 July, with prices starting at $495 per night with minimum two-night stays. Read more here. 

Working Holiday Maker workforce campaign launches
This week, Tourism WA launched a new Working Holiday Maker Workforce Campaign, targeting people aged 18-35 living in the UK to consider WA as their dream working holiday destination. The campaign creative showcases young people working in wondrous places in the WA tourism and hospitality industry through a series of inspiring visual assets, with the campaign promoted across paid digital channels. Industry operators are encouraged to leverage the campaign, delivered through the Tourism Workforce Development Program, by listing job vacancies for free on westernaustralia.jobs. Read more here.  

Mature Age Workforce Campaign and Jobs Expo wrap up
The Tourism and Hospitality Job Expos held in Perth and Bunbury have connected over 150 mature job seekers with more than 20 industry operators, showcasing diverse job opportunities in WA’s tourism and hospitality industry. These events formed part of Tourism WA’s Mature Age Workforce Campaign delivered under the Choose Tourism Grant Campaign funded by the Australian Government, to encourage older West Australians to consider benefits of working in the sector. Tourism WA would like to thank FACET and all participating operators and agencies for their contributions to the successful events. Find out more here. 

Tasmania Trails update
Tourism WA recently gave a group of key WA trail tourism operators the opportunity to connect with their Tasmanian counterparts through the National Parks Tourism Experience Development program (NPTED). WA operators exchanged knowledge and connected with experts from Tourism Australia, Tourism Tasmania and Tasmanian Parks and Wildlife. This gave operators exclusive, first-hand experience of best practice trail tourism in Australia’s most celebrated trail towns and experiences to apply learnings to their own offerings. This will assist them in creating new experiences that will appeal to out-of-state high-yield travellers in the future. Read more here.  

The Kimberley makes Wanderlust’s Green List 
Tourism WA's UK team has secured the Kimberley a spot on Wanderlust magazine’s annual Green list. Launched in 2023, The Green List is a celebration of the most promising and exciting initiatives in the world of sustainable travel for people and the planet. In 2024 they received over 1,000 entries, with each one put under the microscope by a panel of experts in the field of sustainability. This year for Western Australia, the landmark agreement between the G'Day Group (owners of the El Questro Wilderness Park) and the Traditional Owners was recognised. The story highlights the Kimberley’s rich, untouched nature and the incredible work being done to protect the land. Read more here. 

Western Australia shortlisted for The Travel Marketing Awards
The TV series delivered by the Tourism WA UK team, John & Lisa’s Food Trip Down Under, has been shortlisted for a UK Travel Marketing Award in the video/film/tv category. The awards are one of the most prestigious events in the travel and tourism marketing calendar and one of the industry’s most sought-after accolades, celebrating brilliance in travel marketing, rewarding the originality, creativity, innovation and relevancy delivered by brands, teams and individuals across a wide range of disciplines within Advertising, Marketing, Digital and PR. Read more about the UK market here. 

2023 destination insights released
Tourism WA has just released its new destination insights for the year ending December 2023. They offer findings such as: most international visitors to Destination Perth and the Australia’s South West are from the United Kingdom, while New Zealand leads visitation in Australia’s North West and to Australia’s Golden Outback; international visitors to the Gascoyne region mostly travel alone (43 per cent) while most of its domestic visitors travel with friends or relatives; and two thirds of international visitors to the City of Swan stay at a friend or relative’s property. Tourism WA’s newly released destination insights can be accessed here (Tourism Regions), here (Regional Development Commissions) and here (Local Government Areas). 

G’Day Australia 2024 seller applications close tomorrow
Tomorrow is the last chance for sellers to apply for G’Day Australia 2024, to be held from 14-17 October in Perth. This four-day event, delivered by Tourism Australia in partnership with Tourism WA, will follow a workshops and familiarisations format, and is exclusively targeted at Aussie Specialist Agents. The event is designed to showcase extraordinary travel experiences and to equip agents with the expertise and inspiration to sell Australia to key markets. Find out more seller information, including how to apply, here.

Early bird Meeting Place 2024 registrations are now open
Early bird registrations are now open for Meeting Place 2024 (MP24), hosted by the Australian Tourism Export Council (ATEC), in partnership with Tourism and Events Queensland and Experience Gold Coast. Taking place on the Gold Coast from 28 - 30 October, the event will offer Australia’s inbound tourism industry the chance to reconnect and experience the diversity of products and experiences for international visitors from a range of markets. MP24 will take the format of B2B meetings, conferencing and forums, experiential breakouts, plus networking opportunities including a welcome function and gala finale. Early-bird full delegate registrations are open until 30 June, with full priced registrations closing 31 July. Register here. 

WA Tourism Awards nominations extended
Nominations for the Perth Airport WA Tourism Awards have been extended to June 19, and all that is required is to complete a short nomination process. The Awards are open to all tourism-related businesses in Western Australia. With 27 categories to choose from, including festivals and events, adventure tourism, tours and transport, food, wine, accommodation, and many more, there is a category to suit every tourism business. Click here to nominate.