WESTERN Australian Labor Party (WA Labor) will invest A$5 million (US$3.7 million) per annum in the Perth Convention Bureau (PCB) to boost the hospitality and tourism sectors’ ability to create jobs and diversify the economy.
WA Labor’s investment will mean a 62 per cent increase in funding compared to the cuts announced by the Liberal Government in the 2015-16 State Budget.
Tourism Council Western Australia estimates that the annual investment will create over 340 new jobs in the state and maintain a total of 1,260 jobs each year.
In 2014/2015, the business events market directly contributed A$112 million to the state economy and created over 900 jobs.
A joint media release by WA Labor and PCB states that the bureau regularly provides a return on investment more than two to three times its Sydney and Melbourne counterparts and operates on a much lower cost basis than competing bureaus.
Mark McGowan, WA Labor leader, said: “It makes smart economic sense to invest in organisations that have a high return on investment like the Perth Convention Bureau to create more local jobs for Western Australians.”
With more than 2,000 additional hotel rooms coming on line in the near future, WA Labor’s investment in PCB will grow the visitor numbers required to fill these rooms.
