WA tourism conference to be a boon for Karratha

The City of Karratha will play host to one of the State tourism industry’s biggest events later this year.

The WA Regional Tourism Conference was awarded to the City in recognition of its commitment to growing the region’s tourism capacity and offerings.

The two-day conference, which will be held in September, will give local operators the chance to network with hundreds of delegates, while touring opportunities before and after the event will showcase the region to the broader tourism industry.

Pilbara Tourism Association chairman Barry Harrison said the City was to be congratulated on putting together a winning bid that highlighted the strengths of the region.

“The opportunity to showcase the tourism assets of both the City of Karratha and the wider Pilbara region will be invaluable for tourism moving forward,” he said.

Karratha Mayor Peter Long said he was excited for the opportunity to showcase the City’s unique and underrated adventure, nature and eco-cultural experiences to a Statewide audience

“Council is committed to strengthening our emerging tourism industry and is working hard to promote Karratha as a great place to live, work and invest,” he said.

Having hosted Performing Arts Connections Australia’s annual arts conference last year, the WA Regional Tourism Conference will be the second major conference to be held in the city in as many years.

“This is a significant event on the WA tourism industry’s calendar and being selected as the second regional city to host the event demonstrates that our state-of-the-art Red Earth Arts Precinct will continue to attract conferences of this calibre,” Cr Long said.

The PTA believes building on the momentum the event will create will be critical to the success of tourism in the Pilbara.

“After being a little overlooked by the latest WA Drive campaign, we have a great opportunity to showcase our tourism attractions to the wider industry,” Mr Harrison said.

The conference is due to take place from September 16-18.