Off the Record: Tourism WA’s obsession with quokkas takes a terrifying turn, but where is Albany’s big push?

WHERE THE BLOODY HELL ARE YOU? After a few years of living in Albany, you become well aware of the disconnect between what this part of the State has to offer and the attention it gets from tourism authorities. Yes, tourism boffins, we have been to Margaret River and it’s lovely. Wineries, lush landscapes, beautiful coastline, world-class produce — it’s a great spot. The issue is we also have all of those things in abundance on the south coast. By the time you add our history and mountain ranges into the mix, that extra two hours on the road seems more than fair. And yes, most of us have been to Rottnest Island and seen the quokkas. Giving credit where credit’s due — Rotto has come a long way in the past few years and the quokka selfie craze has taken it to a much bigger audience. But the quokka selfie obsession took a somewhat frightening turn at the weekend, when Tourism WA organised for several giant inflatable quokkas to be placed at Bondi Beach in NSW, presumably to scare Sydneysiders into making the trip west, lest one of those man-eating quokkas hunt them down. In their media release, Tourism WA said the giant quokkas were installed to invite “visitors and Bondi locals to nail the famous Instagram selfie with the playful replicas”. Playful is one way of putting it. But back to the point of this rant: there is simply no justification for the colossal imbalance in tourism promotion between the Great Southern and other parts of WA. If you don’t believe Off the Record, do yourself a favour and visit Tourism WA’s main website — westernaustralia.com — where you will see the State is broken down into five regions. Albany falls into the “Margaret River and the South West” region. If you click through to the “Margaret River and the South West” website, you’ll notice that Albany does not crack a mention in the “About the region” description. Hell, it doesn’t even make it onto the map. Tourism WA, if you’re reading this, just go a little further to the right on the map and that’s where you’ll find WA’s most historic regional capital. Just above that map, you’ll find an “essential guide” to the region — a 27-page downloadable booklet full of pieces designed to lure tourists. Unfortunately, among the various guides to Margaret River, Albany barely cracks a mention. There is a page with photos of Albany on it — including a shot of a path which they refer to as “the National Anzac Centre” — but the story itself doesn’t mention Albany. In the interests of fairness, OTR must acknowledge the work of regional tourism organisation Australia’s South West, which is supported by Tourism WA. Their website — australiassouthwest.com — at least carries more of an Albany flavour. Australia’s South West has just released a new video which encourages people to visit the region in winter. Albany only gets 12 seconds of screen time in that 2:33 video, but it’s a decent video, and at this point, we’ll take it. And it is also worth mentioning that a new Albany-based tourism and trade manager role has been created in the wake of the collapse of Amazing South Coast Tourism. The new role, filled by Glen Thompson, was created a few months before the launch of the Great Southern Tourism and Trade Partnership in February, a collaboration between Australia’s South West, the Great Southern Development Commission and Austrade. Since the collapse of Amazing South Coast Tourism in July last year, the future of destination marketing for Albany, Denmark and Mt Barker has been cloudy. Meanwhile, one hotel has opened at the Albany Waterfront Marina, another is on the way at Middleton Beach and plans have just been revealed for a luxury resort offering at Frenchman Bay. These tourism operators obviously think the demand is there. Word is slowly getting out about our special part of the State — Albany locals can attest to that because of how busy it’s been getting during the holidays in recent years. Just imagine how well we could do if we got more of a push from the top.