Hopman Cup tennis tournament to stay in WA for next 3 years

19/12/95

The Hopman Cup tennis tournament will stay in Western Australia at the Burswood International Resort Casino for the next three years, Premier Richard Court announced today.

"WA was in danger of losing its premier tennis event to another State," Mr Court said.

"However, we have managed to secure the event for WA through the continuing support of the Government's events agency, Eventscorp, which established the Hopman Cup in Perth in conjunction with Paul McNamee back in 1988."

Mr Court said Eventscorp was supporting the event on the basis of the extensive Australian and international media coverage it received.

"Since its inception in 1988, the Hopman Cup has consistently attracted the leading tennis players and brought world-wide attention to Perth," he said.

"This year, over 30 hours of live television coverage of the tournament will be broadcast to millions of viewers throughout Europe, South Africa and Australia, with further coverage in Asia, WA's prime tourism market.

"Currently 47 per cent of the State's international tourist market comes from Asia which, with aggressive marketing including television coverage via major events such as the Hopman Cup, has the potential to reach a massive 54 per cent by the year 2000.

"This kind of exposure would be prohibitively expensive to buy and with the added opportunity of 'tourism postcards' being an integral part of the exciting world-class tennis broadcast, the promotion for WA will be invaluable.

"The 'tourism postcards', an Eventscorp initiative, will include a series of tailor-made 15 second spots on tourism attractions in Perth and WA."

The Premier said that in addition to the international promotional benefits, the Hopman Cup was important to the local community, generating employment opportunities.

It also kicked off the summer tennis season and gave sports enthusiasts the opportunity to see world-class tennis stars who would not otherwise play in Perth.

"The new round-robin format, which will allow fans to see each of the teams three times, is just one of the innovations that the Hopman Cup team has implemented to make this year's event better than ever," Mr Court said.

"I am sure that over the next three years the event will continue to improve and be the envy of other States."