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Denmark tourism returns chamber’s focus

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Greens Pool, Denmark
Camera IconGreens Pool, Denmark

Despite a steady increase in visitor numbers in the past three years, some accommodation providers in Denmark say they are experiencing a loss in revenue.

Figures from Tourism WA show a 36.6 per cent increase in visitors in Denmark from 2016 to 2018. However, Chamber of Commerce chief executive Liz Jack said many visitors chose to stay at caravan park or with friends or relatives.

“Out of the 164,700 visitors to the shire, 27 per cent of them are staying in caravan parks or commercial camp grounds, 26 per cent are staying with friends and relatives and only 14 per cent of these visitors rented a house, flat or apartment,” she said. “I’ve got a number of accommodation people that have indicated that while the occupancy might still be there, their turnover has been reduced and for some, their occupancy numbers have been reduced.”

Ms Jack said Denmark’s economy could not rely only on an increase in visitors. Instead, she was encouraging businesses to find ways to increasing tourism spending in the town.

“I think the key issue here is that tourism visitation number are up, however the ripple effect of that through the community is a more complex set of data that we as a regional community don’t collect,” she said.

The Denmark Chamber of Commerce is now collecting revenue data from local business to get an accurate picture if the economy.

“We need to get a better handle on this data to be able to understand better what is happening in a localised area,” she said. “They don’t have to be a member of the chamber, so anyone who is willing to share — without any commercial details — if they can share what it’s been like in their business in the past three years, that could help us a lot.”

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