Western Australia: A unique experience in a unique environment

With a strong recovery in Indian outbound tourism, Western Australia is looking to build the momentum with several key initiatives planned for the market, says Roger Cook, Deputy Premier and Minister for Tourism, Western Australia.

- Varsha Singh

Q How has the growth been?

In particular, the Indian market has come back very strongly in the post-Covid-19 era. Prior to Covid-19, we had 130,000 two-way passenger movements between India and Western Australia. We have already exceeded that. We are looking at very strong growth in the market. About 80 pc of that market is visiting friends and relatives with 20 pc leisure and business. We are looking to grow that segment. We have every reason to be very optimistic.

Besides VFR, which other segments are you looking at?

Our travel retail partners tell us that adventure travel is a significant focus for Western Australia. So we will work with our travel partners in India to see how we can promote Western Australia and how to grow that segment. Western Australia has some of the great drives of the world, you can travel down to Margaret River through some of the best wineries on earth and some amazing forests and bush land, including an incredible coastline. So Western Australia represents a great opportunity for Indian travellers looking for that little bit extra, that unique experience, and that is why we are very confident of them, with reason to believe through the early numbers that the Indian market will come back very strongly.