Visitor Servicing in Kununurra

The Kununurra Visitor Centre is a Level One Accredited Visitor Centre i.e. it is strategically located within the East Kimberley, providing state, regional and local information.  It is estimated that of all of the visitors to Kununurra, 60% of them would call in to the Kununurra Visitor Centre to obtain information and make bookings.

In 2002, the Western Australian Tourism Commission (WATC, now Tourism Western Australia) initiated a review of the Partnership 21, 2001-2005 Tourism Industry Plan.  This review made several recommendations regarding visitor servicing and the role of Visitor Centres. In late 2002, as part of the "New Concept for State Tourism" process, the WATC developed and distributed a Discussion Paper seeking the views of all stakeholders on whether change was required in regional tourism marketing and development and, if so, what form that change should take.  Comment was received from more than 150 operators, tourism associations, representative organisations and the three levels of government.  There was a high level of stakeholder feedback to support a review of Visitor Centres/visitor servicing.  As a result of the study and close examination of the range of visitor servicing activities being conducted in Western Australia, the benefits of visitor servicing were found to be as follows:

Tourism outcomes: visitors have better experiences, stay longer, spend more, come back and tell others. Tourism businesses benefit from more custom.

Community outcomes: enhanced sense of place and community esteem, focused use of community resources, employment opportunities. Local businesses benefit from visitor expenditure.

Safety outcomes: enhanced information to avoid visitors getting lost and hurt.

Environmental and cultural outcomes: directing tourism activity away from inappropriate places and areas susceptible to damage or cultural sensitivity, raised awareness in visitors.

The study also found that travellers visiting a Visitor Centre took additional trips or stayed longer in an area. Visitors with less fixed travel plans are twice as likely to extend their stay in a region as those with fixed plans leaving the opportunity to on-sell product to those on relatively unstructured visits.

National and international research has shown that visitor servicing can increase yield from visitors and suggests that following the use of a visitor centre:

- Between 13% and 15% of visitors stayed an extra night in an area.
- Between 18% and 21% undertook additional tours.
- Between 30% and 56% visited additional attractions.
- At least 22% of visitors say the Visitor Centre experience affected their decision to spend more than originally budgeted in a place.

Kununurra and Shire of Wyndham East Kimberley Statistics

Population:  7,775
Area: 121,189 square kilometres 
Length of sealed roads: 476 kilometres
Length of unsealed roads: 1,474 kilometres

For further information, visit the Shire of Wyndham East Kimberley's website: www.thelastfrontier.com.au

Door Count Statistics for the Kununurra Visitor Centre

Figures taken from the door counter at the Kununurra Visitor Centre indicate the following visitors to our region.  As mentioned above, it is estimated that of all the visitors to Kununurra, only 60% enter the Visitor Centre for information: