The power of WA travel

THIS week saw a posse of passionate workers in the travel industry meet with the WA Minister for Tourism David Templeman to discuss the plight of the state’s struggling sector.

One of the attendees, Global Travel Solutions’ Jo-Anne Francis, said such meetings with key politicians are important to convey the full state of distress the industry is currently under.

“Whilst the Minister had a very solid understanding of the extraordinary circumstances we continue to deal with 19 months down the track, it seemed imperative to arrange this time together to ensure our industry received some much-needed consideration,” she said.

“It was extremely beneficial to elaborate on our challenges as well as offer some potential solutions in a frank and honest discussion of what our industry needs to survive for the next six to twelve months.”

“We are hoping other agents in other states will do the same with the idea of asking for assistance locally, we discussed cruising restart and to support us on that federally, we spoke about getting together with suppliers to ensure their support of agents by offering commission, online booking engines to name just a few items,” Francis added.

Some of the movers and shakers pictured attending were: Terrel Ramsay, Travel & Sports Australia; Nicole Campbell; Best4Travel Alison Banks, TravelManagers; Carole Smethurst, Bicton Travel; Jo-Anne Francis; Scott Campbell, Best 4 Travel and Nicola Strudwick, Travellers Choice.