Growth in Tourism in Albany outpaces National Average

Tourism plays an important role in Albany, which is the major commercial centre along the Western Australian South Coast, more than doubling numbers in the peak month of January. Annually, tourism makes a significant contribution to the local economy. In 2005, there were 635,200 international visitors and 6.0 million overnight domestic visitors to WA, with a combined expenditure of $4.0 billion. Western Australia’s Tourism Satellite Account estimates that in 2001/02, 54,000 jobs were directly related to WA’s tourism industry, with a further 18,000 jobs indirectly related to tourism. In total this represents 7.7% of total State employment, or in real terms for every 100 people employed in WA around 8 will be directly or indirectly working in tourism.

The Western Australian tourism industry directly accounts for $2.2 billion of Gross Value Added (value of industry’s production before net taxes on products) – this is 3.1% of total Western Australia Value Added and equates to 8.5% of Australia’s total tourism value added. Tourism also contributed $2.7 billion to Western Australia’s Gross State Product (GSP) which accounts for 3.5% of the State’s GSP.For year ending March 2006, Interstate visitors to WA increased by +5.1% compared with the previous 12 months, resulting in 1.05 million visitors. Meanwhile, the national average declined by -3.6%. Total domestic spending in WA was $3.049 billion, an increase of 1.8%, while the national average recorded a decline of -2.8%.