Karratha visitor service prepares for transition

Management of visitor services in the Karratha region will be transferred from the independent Karratha Visitor Centre to the City of Karratha from next month.

After closing its doors for the Christmas break, the KVC building on De Witt Road will re-open next month as a City in-house service after a council decision last July to transfer the centre to local government management due to chronic funding issues.

City Mayor Peter Long thanked the KVC for providing valuable visitor information services to support local tourism over the years.

He said transferring visitor services to local government management would streamline delivery.

“The City has many operational systems in place and bringing visitor information services in-house will improve efficiency and economic sustainability,” he said.

Cr Long said the in-house visitor service would be staffed by a supervisor and pool of casual staff members, as under the previous operating model.

In response to concerns raised in July about KVC employees potentially losing their jobs, he said the City had received applications from some KVC staff members and “a number of (them)” had been employed by the City.

Roebourne will also continue to have a visitor information services presence under the new model, with staff expected to be based in the Victoria Hotel building once restoration works are completed.