Tourism Western Australia (TWA) has unveiled an A$12 million (US$8.4 million) international marketing offensive that will see the state intensify its promotional efforts in the region’s key markets over the next 13 months to nurture growing tourism traffic from Asia.

TWA also signed a three-year global cooperative marketing agreement with Singapore Airlines (SIA) on Tuesday afternoon to promote both leisure and MICE travel to Western Australia in 10 key international markets including India, China, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Japan, Indonesia and Singapore.

The A$5 million agreement, jointly funded by TWA and SIA, will include advertising promotional airfares and travel packages to Western Australia through digital, print and TV channels.

Western Australia’s tourism minister Paul Papalia said at a press conference on Monday that this latest effort was the “biggest international marketing push in the state’s history”, as growing the tourism sector is part of the plan to “boost the economy, create jobs and develop business opportunities”.

He added: “One of the biggest opportunities for Perth and Western Australia at the moment is the MICE market. Coincidentally, there was a boom in mining (years ago), and hotels were built to meet that demand. But that demand shifted from construction to production.

“So all these high-quality, affordable hotels (have the capacity) to host business conferences and conventions. Melbourne and Sydney are much more expensive (in comparison).”

But Papalia acknowledged that Perth was “not that well-known” as a MICE destination, hence the aggressive marketing push.

On top of the new marketing push, Gareth Martin, newly-installed CEO of Perth Convention Bureau, revealed that an incentive for corporate groups has been made available from now until June 30, 2020. Any corporate groups bound for Perth will be given AS$50 per delegate.

Martin also sees this year’s Dreamtime – Tourism Australia’s incentive event – from December 1 to 3 in Perth as a shot in the arm for the destination.

Currently, Perth handles around 280 events per year of varying sizes, something that Martin wants to “grow by 10 per cent in the next two years”.

Stanley Yew, senior event sales executive of Singapore-based event management company Accolade, who attended the TWA trade event on Monday, told TTGmice that there seemed to be “more to do in Perth now, especially after hours”.

He pointed to lobster catching and a lunch cruise close to the city as attractive options for incentive groups, and opined that Perth needed to shout louder about its corporate event possibilities.