Will government vouchers turn around slow start to Kimberley's tourist season?

Tourism operators in Western Australia's far north are unconvinced a program of government-funded vouchers and discounts will help overcome a depressed start to the region's annual tourism season.

WA's Kimberley normally sees a significant influx of caravaners and other self-driving travellers during autumn and winter each year as people head north seeking warmer weather.

But high fuel prices driven by the conflict in the Middle East have seen numbers down this year.

The WA government has launched a $600,000 voucher program to entice travellers north, offering 50 per cent off a range of tourist experiences.

But while some Kimberley tour operators have welcomed the move, doubts remain.

'Too little, too late'

Ben Smith and Sally Martin run cultural tourism business Kimberley Dreaming in Wyndham, WA's northernmost town.

He said "fear mongering" about fuel cost and availability had severely impacted holiday-makers' decisions to come north.

"We have definitely noticed a downturn in visitation," Mr Smith said.

While grateful for the support from the relevant agencies, he said it was "a little bit too late".

"I don't think this is going to give incentives to people that live in Perth or Sydney or Brisbane to come now,"

he said.

"They're going to put it off until next year and that's what we've been hearing."

Around 1,000 kilometres west, Bruce Hartley runs Unreel Adventures, offering fishing charters and other tours from Derby.

He said he had seen a big reduction in tourist numbers this year.

"[It's] dropped off by 70 per cent," he said.

"It's not going very well. It's probably almost as bad as the first year after COVID."

Families, young travellers missing

Mr Hartley said while the big luxury vessels were booked out years in advance and grey nomads were still travelling, there had been a reduction in families and young tourists visiting the Kimberley.

He said he had seen people not only travelling less, but also spending less.

"We're having to use our little boats and doing sunset tours," Mr Hartley said.

"Which is not a fantastic return on trying to operate a one or two-million-dollar vessel."

While he said the vouchers program had "a lot of merit", Mr Hartley was also unsure it would make a difference for his business.

"It's a start but it only affects lower-price tours," he said.

"Our longer tours cost $7,000 or $8,000 so they're only going to be reduced by $500, which won't be particularly a big deal."

Mr Hartley said the government should focus on economic and cost-of-living measures to tackle the "pessimism" making visitors hesitant to spend.

The cost of remoteness

Balanggarra man Ronnie Morgan, who runs Indigenous four-wheel-drive tour company Just Over the Hills, has taken a double hit from both the fuel crisis and late wet season rain.

While numbers seemed to be picking up with the start of the school holidays, Mr Morgan said there had been a number of cancellations.

"It started pretty rough," he said.

He is hopeful the voucher program will boost visitor numbers.

But he would like to see tourism to remote communities, where the cost of fuel and food is always much higher than anywhere else, being better supported.

"I know there's a big market there, accessing areas of Country where nobody else goes," Mr Morgan said.

"Coming through communities, spending money in the communities as well is definitely beneficial for all of us."

But Mr Morgan said the entire region was remote due to limited and expensive connections to other parts of the country and the state.

"Flights to … anywhere up here cost way more than any international flights," he said.

"I think that's something we definitely need to look at and tackle."

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