Join us for the Visitor Centre Training Academy – a professional development opportunity designed specifically for Visitor Centre Managers, Team Leaders, and key team members across Western Australia. This event is presented by Tourism Council WA with the support of Tourism WA.
As frontline ambassadors for your regions, visitor centre professionals play a pivotal role in shaping visitor experiences and driving local tourism outcomes. This academy is your chance to enhance your capabilities, connect with peers, and strengthen your centre's impact on regional tourism success. The academy will cover a number of topics, including AI and social media for destination marketing, and customer service and retail skills and innovation.
What You'll Gain:
- Practical Skills – Tools and techniques you can implement immediately
- Peer Networks – Connect with visitor centre professionals across WA
- Regional Impact – Share knowledge and best practices throughout your networks
- Professional Growth – Enhance your capabilities as a tourism professional
Topics Include:
- Destination Marketing: Social Media & AI - A hands-on session covering the social media strategies and AI tools that are reshaping how visitor centres attract and engage visitors, and how to stay the most trusted source of local information in a rapidly changing digital landscape.
- Customer Service Excellence - Practical skills for delivering outstanding visitor experiences - whether your visitor has planned every detail or walked in off the street with no idea where they are going next.
- Sales, Upselling & Retail - How to make the most of every visitor interaction - from retail display and product knowledge through to upselling techniques that work even when budgets are tight.
- Digital Tools: Creating Content & Running Smarter - A practical two-part session covering the digital tools that make day-to-day visitor centre work faster and more effective - from producing great-looking content in Canva and AI writing tools, through to getting more from your booking system, keeping your listings current, and improving your centre's visibility online.
- Your Place in the Visitor Economy - A thought-provoking half-day session examining where visitor centres sit within the wider tourism ecosystem - and where there is room to build stronger partnerships, develop new experiences, and make a more compelling case for the role visitor centres play.
Academy Timings
Tuesday, August 18 - 1.30pm to 5.00pm
Wednesday, August 19 - 9.00am to 4.45pm, followed by networking from 5.00pm to 7.00pm
Thursday, August 20 - 8.30am to 1.00pm
