Qantas and Tourism Western Australia (WA) have increased the value of their tourism marketing partnership by 45 per cent.
This takes the value of the agreement between the two companies to $12.9 million - and this finance is intended to maximise the benefits of the Qantas Perth to London service.
The service is set to launch in March 2018 and the extra $5.7 million will be directed towards promoting WA in the UK, Europe and locally.
Perth will be highlighted as the ideal stopover destination for international visitors and connecting domestic customers alike.
Under the terms of the three-year marketing deal, which was renewed in 2016, Qantas and Tourism WA will target New Zealand, US, Singapore and the rest of Australia for promotional activity. This includes promotions relating to major events, destinations and experiences, with a particular focus on digital and social media platforms.
Perth-London flights are to operate through the existing domestic terminals held by Qantas, which will be upgraded with support from the WA government to accommodate the additional international flights.
International services from Perth currently operated by the national carrier to Singapore and Auckland will also move to this terminal. This move is expected to help simplify the journey for thousands of people every year.
Gareth Evans, chief executive officer of Qantas International, said the expansion to Europe is a demonstration of optimism in Perth's potential as a hub for tourism in the future.
"The goal is to make sure they look at spending a few days getting to know Perth and discovering its regional centres, before going to see the rest of the country," he commented.
"It's about building on what we already do to promote West Australia in some of our biggest markets and sending the message that Perth is a new gateway to exploring Australia."
