The Australian Hotels Association (AHA) WA has welcomed today’s announcement by the McGowan Government of a multimillion-dollar recovery package to support small tourism operators across WA that were not beneficiaries of the State’s $17,500 payroll tax grant.
AHA(WA) CEO Bradley Woods said that the $10.4 million Tourism Recovery Fund and $4 million Tourism Business Survival Grants follows the AHA(WA)’s cooperative and constructive engagement with the State Government and Tourism WA over the past months and will be welcomed by WA’s smaller accommodation hotel operators, who have been hurt through the forced closures.
“WA’s smaller accommodation hotels are going to require substantial support to help them through what has been the most challenging period on record,” Mr Woods said.
“The business models of our industry will be considerably altered as a result of COVID-19 and the grants announced today will assist these businesses to transition.”
“The program includes eligibility for small accommodation hotels, apartment hotels, motels, resorts and other licensed accommodation providers with taxable wages under one million dollars. The criteria requires a business to be a member of a Regional Tourism Organisation or the Western Australian Indigenous Tourism Operators Council (WAITOC) and will ensure that small accommodation providers are working collaboratively with their appropriate tourism marketing organisation.”
