Restaurant & Catering Australia (R&CA) has welcomed the commitments to the tourism sector in Western Australia (WA) announced in yesterday’s 2017–18 WA State Budget.
The first Budget to be delivered in this term of government included a commitment to invest $425 million over five years towards destination marketing and event tourism.
The Government’s tourism commitments in the Budget also included an annual baseline funding for destination marketing of $45 million each year and $40 million each year for event tourism.
R&CA CEO Juliana Payne praised the commitments to tourism in the WA State Budget and said that this investment would ultimately be beneficial to the state’s café and restaurant sector.
“The strength of the international tourism sector, as demonstrated by yesterday’s International Visitor Survey results, cannot be taken for granted,” says Payne.
“We are pleased that the WA Government has recognised the importance of tourism to the state’s economy and announced a significant, multi-year funding effort to ensure that this growth is not squandered.
“Some of the major beneficiaries of a thriving tourism market are hospitality sector businesses, whose economic contribution to the state’s economy was worth $5.4 billion for the year ending July 2017 according to the latest ABS retail trade data.
“The WA Government’s budget commitments will ensure that the state is well-placed to capitalise on the economic and employment growth forecast for both the tourism and hospitality sector over the coming years.”
