Greg O’Hara heaps praise on WA destinations including Rottnest Island, Horizontal Falls at tourism summit

The head of a global travel body has heaped praise on WA’s tourism assets — including Horizontal Falls in the Kimberley and Rottnest Island — as the “most iconic locations” he has seen in three decades. During his opening address to the World Travel and Tourism Council’s summit in Perth on Wednesday, the group’s chairman, Greg O’Hara, spoke about a recent familiarisation tour of WA, which took him up north and to Rottnest. Showcasing photos he had taken himself of Broome’s Cable Beach and quokkas, Mr O’Hara praised WA’s natural tourism assets. “I spent a few days travelling the region with my partner, Anna, and found some of the most iconic locations I’ve ever seen in my 30 years of industry,” Mr O’Hara said. “(We have been) soaking in the landscapes, the food, the wine, the wildlife, but above all the people but it feels like travel is in every Australian’s blood ... everyone showed us so much pride and place in everything they do.” Horizontal Falls, 250km north-east of Broome, has been the centre of debate in State politics after the Government announced in March it would be closing the attraction to new visitors. The decision came off the back of traditional owners calling for the closure after dozens of tourists were injured when a jet boat crashed into a rock wall. Premier Roger Cook said WA was proud of everything it had to offer tourists. “We like to consider Western Australia a little tourism to tourism gym, just 2.6 million square kilometres, encapsulated in 13,000 kilometres of coastline,” he said. “We want to continue to make sure that we can offer Western Australia to the world because we believe it has so much to offer. The summit also released research that showed direct flights to Perth are proving to be a major drawcard to the globe’s booming visitor market. New research, released by the WTTC, showed Perth was the only Australian city to record an increase in inbound seats on pre-pandemic levels, up nine per cent. Largely driven by a spate of direct flights to Europe and Asia, Perth’s research win was used to highlight the need to increase connectivity in the Oceania region to grow tourism across Pacific nations.