Tourism Council WA has welcomed the news from Tourism Research Australia’s latest State Tourism Satellite Accounts which show WA added around 2,000 tourism jobs in 2017-18.
However, Western Australia had the lowest tourism jobs growth of any State or Territory at 1.8 per cent, far behind the Australian growth of 5.3 per cent, and classified as “below average growth” in the report.
“If WA tourism had grown at the same rate as Australia, 5,700 new jobs would have been created across the State,” Tourism Council WA CEO Evan Hall said.
“Western Australia’s falling market share in international tourism is the main barrier to growing tourism jobs for local people.
“The State Government has committed additional funding to boost international marketing and attract more international visitors, and this should soon begin to bear fruit.
“The State Government should aim to grow tourism jobs at the same rate as the rest of Australia and commit to a target of 6,000 new tourism jobs per annum.”
State Tourism Satellite Account, 2017-18 – WA Growth vs Australia Growth
| WA | WA Growth % | Australia Growth % | |
| International | $2.9 billion | -7.4% | 7.3% |
| Domestic | $13.1 billion | 6.6% | 6.7% |
| Total | $16 billion | 3.8% | 6.8% |
| Jobs | 108,800 FTE | 1.8% | 5.3% |
The Tourism Satellite Accounts show tourism now creates more than 108,000 Full Time Equivalent jobs in Western Australia, representing more than 8 per cent of the State’s employment. This is a higher share than industries such as mining (7 per cent).
