The tourism industry has issued a $130 million mayday call to the State Government, claiming more businesses and jobs in the sector are “doomed” unless the plummeting number of overseas visitors to WA is treated as a “State emergency”.

Evan Hall, who has run the Tourism Council for seven years, told The West Australian it was “impossible to over-exaggerate the disastrous state of the industry”.

Citing new international arrival figures at Perth Airport that reveal a 14 per cent decline in October and November, the council chief executive and tourism operators urged the Government to arrest the “diabolical situation” they blame on a lack of spending to market WA overseas.

“We are in a crisis,” Mr Hall said. “We’ve seen more than 1200 jobs go in the last financial year and it has become inevitable that hundreds more will follow.”

Operators warned that the current tourism budget could not compete with other States, who have increased their spending by as much as 100 per cent.

“Australia is experiencing an international tourism boom, but those people are not coming to WA,” he said.

“Tourism spending in our State is down by $180 million and if that continues year on year, we will see an industry crisis that mirrors what occurred with the collapse of Ansett, September 11 and the SARS virus.”

Camera Icon Enjoying a wine in the Margaret River region. Credit: Michael Wilson

In a submission ahead of Treasurer Ben Wyatt’s Budget in May, the Tourism Council has asked the Government for an extra $26 million a year over the next five years.

Mr Hall said the current $85 million annual budget allocation for tourism in the forward estimates, totalling $425 million, would not “stop the slide”.

But Tourism Minister Paul Papalia said WA “will never be able to match the combined spend of Queensland, Victoria, NSW and Tasmania”. “We know international tourism markets take longer to shift,” he said.

“We have established a $30 million aviation fund aimed at making Perth the nation’s western gateway and we’ve seen results with ANA commencing a direct flight from Tokyo, seven days a week from September.”

Apart from a one per cent increase in official international visitor numbers in September, WA has suffered falls in the tens of thousands.

SeaLink, which operates Captain Cook cruises and tours, claimed WA should not be struggling while other States and territories were thriving.

“There’s a lot of pain out there,” general manager Andrew Lane said.

“Perth is suffering a perfect storm. The local economy is depressed and there has been a downturn in domestic and international visitors.

“We need to invest in campaigns that give people a reason to come here.”

Camera Icon Greens Pool in the William Bay National Park. Credit: Tourism WA

Tourism Council president Chris Pyne, whose Terrace Hotel closed last year, agreed that the situation was urgent. “Our members need something done today,” he said.

The State’s largest tour and coach operator, Adam Barnard, said “the situation is appalling”.

“It has never been this bad,” he said. “I know the Government is shy about spending, but this money would be an investment.”

He praised the efforts of Tourism WA chairman Nathan Harding, claiming the sector would “already be crippled” if he had not had some impact after the Government’s decision to include tourism in a mega bureaucracy.

“The Machinery of Government changes have set us back more than a year,” Mr Barnard said.

Perth Airport chief executive Kevin Brown, who is on the Tourism WA board, said the industry needed to stay positive.

“We need to build on the momentum by continuing to work with the State Government and others to secure direct flights to Shanghai, India and Europe, as well as building on all of our existing connections,” he said.

Pan Pacific Hotel manager Rob Weeden agreed that now was the time for the Government to invest in overseas markets but called on the industry to stop talking itself down.