By Jeff Bell.
With WA’s pre-eminence in resources, Perth should be host to the worlds’ biggest mining conference in the years to come. Combining this with sporting events such as rugby and cricket would attract and hold the international visitors that the economy needs.
The time had come to focus on the right events and visitors in pursuit of the State’s vast untapped potential for international tourism.
These were among the messages from Di Bain, Chair of Tourism Western Australia. Di led a Guest Conversation entitled The Future Us, with members and guests of Band of Leaders Australia at member JOHNEX Explosives in Belmont on Friday 26 August.
Before the Covid disruption (2019), international visitors represented only 3% of the WA tourism visitor pie and interstate visitors 5%, yet together they yielded 37% of the tourism spend in WA.
This has been recognised by the WA Government, which is keen to promote the State’s capacity, with a recent investment of $17.7 million now being implemented to develop new, environmentally-sensitive tourism experiences and accommodation options in and around the State’s national parks, to expand tourism offerings across the regions.
“When marketing our State, we need to be clear about who we are, and showcase our beautiful landscapes, untouched beaches and Aboriginal culture,” Di said.
An encouraging development is the growth of regional airline Aviair, co-owned by Michael McConachy and Geoff Hamilton, who also own the 24-helicopter business, HeliSpirit, across WA and the NT. Together with Rex Airlines, an impressive offering of affordable regional flights continues to emerge.
Di also said the return to big scale cruising had been an exciting development. Western Australia’s regional ports will be welcoming more than 30 vessels during the coming months, with some of these involving passengers coming ashore for tours.
However, recent calls for the Commonwealth Games were wide of the mark. The Games were not in the top 20 of most popular international events. A better mark would be the World Rugby Cup (the world’s 3rd most popular event) for which the infrastructure already existed.
BoLA is a peer membership group for business owners and chief executives. We seek to take our members beyond achievement to success—the essence of leadership. Inviting Guest Conversations is a key activity in our group meeting.
In the days before the session, members had been briefed and sought their own information on the state of tourism in WA. Di arrived at morning tea and segued into a 90 minute conversation with members, prompted by the opening question “Is WA a Tourism State?”. The conversation then continued informally through to the lunch break.
Besides chairing Tourism WA, Di is a marketing and communications professional with more than two decades’ experience. Following a decade-long career with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Di founded media and marketing agency Bain Media, which focuses on developing creative marketing campaigns and delivering strategic media advice to a range of businesses, from mining to tourism and cyber-security.
Di also currently sits on the advisory boards of the Telethon Kids Institute, the Curtin MBA, the Fundraising Committee of the Perth Zoo and Philanthropy Advisory Board of the Black Swan State Theatre Company.
In her spare time Di is a private pilot who enjoys flying helicopters and planes around Western Australia, discovering new and old stories.
She was elected deputy Lord Mayor of Perth in October 2020. Di’s current term as Chair of Tourism WA commenced on 1 July 2021.
Di said there would be a launch of new branding for WA tourism on Tuesday 6 September. This will begin locally and then spread internationally to Tourism WA’s international markets, including key markets Singapore, New Zealand, the United States and the United Kingdom.
BoLA members will meet next on Friday 16 September. Typically, our agenda includes such a Guest Conversation as Di’s, processing of strategic opportunities raised within the group and leadership development tools and activities. In the meantime, each member will have a monthly coaching session with their BoLA Chair, Jeff.
And to gain an insight into BoLA membership, you may wish to click on to our Recruitment Breakfast on Wednesday 14 September at the Wembley public golfing complex—we would love to see you there: https://bit.ly/3wJBF7I