Tourist Trap

Tourism WA is marketing the empty box, says Agamedes.

Do you need new -- lateral -- thinking for your own problems? email nick leth at gmail dot com. Need solutions? No worries. Now.

I see that Tourism WA has "restructured" itself. What they mean is, they have sacked 30 percent of their staff and closed regional offices. Now they plan to spend the "saved" money on marketing.

Oh, great.

A whole lot of expensive ads. Perhaps Elle again? Or Oprah? Maybe just bouncy Bingle... And what will the ads be selling...

"Come to WA," the ads will say. "Come to WA and see WA."

Okay, so what will the tourists do when they get to WA? Perhaps they will want to know, Now what? And who will they ask? Well...

Perhaps the post office will have some ideas. After all, they know all the best addresses.

Perhaps the local real estate agent will have some ideas. After all, they will know plenty of places to live, places that just need some tlc, will suit a home handyman, good for entertaining.

Perhaps the local tourist office will have some ideas. After all, they know all the best local places for a tourist to visit. Oh! Wait! The tourist offices have just been closed...

"Come to WA," the ads will say. "Come to WA but first, go online and print a few brochures. And make sure that you print all of the brochures that you will need for your holiday... because we've just sacked every local tourist office employee who could have helped you."

Tourism WA wants to spend $30 million to get people to WA. Once the tourists arrive -- who cares... Certainly not Tourism WA.

Now here's a thought...

Keep all the local tourism experts. Sack a few of the head office paper shuffling drongos. Create a small but effective marketing campaign.

Make WA so attractive to tourists -- so easy for tourists -- that word gets around.

The word that gets around is not so good? Well, all the advertising in the world will not help that...

Make sure that tourists who do get here are able to get a lot of local and expert help. Make sure that the word that gets around is good. And more tourists will hear about it. And come to WA.

Independent thinking & independent analysis of your problems by Agamedes Consulting. Support for your thought: email nick leth at gmail dot com