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24/10/11. Sharks affecting tourism?. Well it's happened again. Another life taken by another white. Deepest codolences to the Family and friends of George Wainwright. Some of the S#%T i have been reading on the net with some callous comments from some reprobates, that think it's funny making a joke about someones death, is just plain ugly, but if it hit home with a member of their family it would be a different story. Who ever manages some of these forums need a good boot up the backside allowing crap like that to be posted. Western Australia is renowned for our beautiful beaches and country side, but not many tourists want to go on holidays just to see this. Geez, even Oprah Winfrey didn't want to come here with even the Government throwing in some enticement. They want to have fun, they want to eat out and spend money on souveniers (preferbly not stuffed Koala bears and Kangaroos made in China), they want to buy goods that reflect their holidays and most want them Australian made. . Sure we throw on a couple of National and International events, but they only attract numbers for the period they are on and sometimes may attract people to come back for a holiday, but most are gone after the event has finished. Have a look around the country and see what some of the other states have in place that attract tourists. You have places like Dream World, Aussie waterballs, Warner Bros Movie world, sea world, etc, etc in Queensland which people flock to in droves and spend big bucks. Things to do all year around. What we need is some major quality attractions like other countrys here in WA. The East coast is cheaper for people to get to from the USA and other countrys on that side of the world, but once you land on the East Coast it's gonna cost you a lot of bucks to get over to the west. Maybe Tourism WA needs to look at subsidising flights for tourists to get here or talk with the airlines and sort some kind of discount out. On a recent trip back from Thailand, I met up with a couple from Ireland with their child that blew an enormous amount of money when holidaying on the East coast. I tried plugging WA, but they said they would have loved to come, but it was too expensive. I myself would love to go on another trip to Queensland, but stuff me for the cost of the flights, I can go to Bali for a week, including accomodation. Profit works on volume, you lower prices for accomodation all year around and you will get more people staying in both the on and off seasons. Boost prices up and you will slow your trade down. Even some caravan parks are getting out of the price range of some peoples pockets. It's got me stuffed how they can charge double at some places just because it's the school holidays. And on that note we don't seem to have enough carvan parks over here, the RV and caravan industry has been the biggest growing industry in the last few years, yet people are finding it hard to park up their new RV or caravan etc in a caravan park, because there are not that many around in some places. How about giving everyone that lands at Perth Airport a voucher booklet as soon as they get off the plane enticing them to spend some money at restaurants, attractions, accomodations etc with discounts attached (and yes there are offers like this on the net, but not everyone uses the net). Stoke the fire while it's hot, not after they leave the airport and wonder around. A friend of mines mate is currently on Reunion Island, he hasn't had a surf in two weeks because of a few shark attacks over there, but he has found other things to do. Not all people go on holidays to go for a swim, dive, surf in the ocean. That's why most Tourist destinations have huge water theme parks, some with even wave pools in them. We need some big Tourist parks/Tourist attractions here in WA and ones that appeal to all including families. Not everyone comes here to jump in the Ocean. They may come here to marvel at our magnificent coastline and check out our amazing country side where they will find we have no sharks on land, apart from the P#@ck who sold me the stuffed Kangaroo. Sure you tosser, it did say Australian design on the tag, but the tag under the tail had made in china. Buyer beware. On that note, i see we are expecting an increase in tourists from China, I wonder if they are going to buy stuffed Kangaroos and Koalas while on holidays in WA that are made in their own country. |