Tourism Council WA welcomes state budget, issues concern for Apr-2021 interstate border closure

Tourism Council Western Australia (WA) welcomed (08-Oct-2020) increased tourism funding in Western Australia's state budget, however warned the tourism industry will lose AUD3 billion (USD2.2 billion) if "Treasury assumptions about the State's border closure became reality". The State Budget papers include an assumption that the interstate border will remain until at least 01-Apr-2021, which would result in a AUD3 billion loss to the tourism industry, based on the latest data from Tourism Research Australia's National Visitor Survey. Tourism Council WA CEO Evan Hall said there would be tens of thousands of tourism jobs lost if the WA border remained until then, as JobKeeper is scheduled to expire at the end of Mar-2021. [more - original PR]