My last week at mt Tourism WA placement... what a great experience!

In my last week I worked with Corporate Communication team. This department deals a lot with the Minister and addresses any scrutiny Tourism WA receives for allocation of time and resources. This entails speech writing for the minister and writing media releases. I got to draft up some forewords that thank guests for coming to regional events. There was a template I could use which thanks guests, outlines the benefits of Tourism WA’s involvement, a little bit about the event and the area the event is being held in. Feedback I received on writing forewords was that it is less descriptive and creative as Destination PR writing. Destination PR writing is about promoting the regions whereas Corporate Communication is more to the point and factual.

I got to have a coffee break with the Corporate Coms team and was able to ask them a lot of question about what the benefits and challenges of their positions and working with Tourism WA. A challenge faced by Tourism WA, like most organisations, is budget constraints. Being in the office mid-year I got to see how the team predict what budget they will need for the following year and how they prioritise the use of what funds they have to spend. This has to be well thought out and done ethically as funding for Tourism WA, being a government department, is tax payer’s money. When it comes to the fair allocation of resources it seemed that everyone tried to approach decision with the interest of the tourist, destination and industry in min

I have really enjoyed my practical placement. It has been really good to be able to put the theory I have learnt in PR units into practice. It has been really good to see how a PR team work together and how they work with other departments to ensure projects, the organisation and destinations are promoted. I received a lot of positive feedback about my work and my professionalism from the team which really built my confidence in a new, professional environment. I think one of the biggest challenges doing placement is gaining confidence in a new, professional work environment. Tourism WA was a great work environment and I would like to work with them again in the future!