West Australia to strengthen ties with India to promote tourism

The West Australian state government plans to make its first major investment in attracting Indian tourists to WA, including appointing a full time marketing representative in Mumbai.

Details of the programmes will be announced by Paul Papalia, Tourism Minister of WA, during his visit to India shortly; while the focus will be on cricket.

A co-operative marketing deal has been arranged with Thomas Cook, offering travel packages to Perth for the first cricket Test match at Optus Stadium in December.

“Our extraordinary State has much to offer Indian travellers, whether they’re visiting for business, education or leisure,” said Papalia.

“But the only thing Indians currently know about Western Australia is that the WACA has a bouncy wicket,” he added.

Just like the Chinese, travelling habit of middle class Indians has been growing in recent years. Though there are no direct flights, about 28,200 Indians visit WA each year and spend around USD 68 million.

Papalia will be speaking to six Indian airlines during his visit, in order to seek the possibilities of direct flights to West Australia to attract more visitors from India.

Perth Stadium

“The State Government is serious about growing WA’s tourism industry and entering a new market such as India, with the potential to deliver thousands more visitors, will help us achieve that goal,” said Papalia.

The WA government also tries to have a direct air link between Perth and India and expect increase the demand for the flights with the new marketing activities.

The new Mumbai marketing post will be similar to positions in other key markets, including Japan, China, Germany, Britain and the US.