The Mount Street Inn has been renamed the Emerald Hotel

1/9/98

The Mount Street Inn has been renamed the Emerald Hotel.

Tourism Minister Norman Moore launched the new identity at the hotel today.

He said the name Emerald Hotel had been chosen because it represented something which was regarded world-wide as being of great value.

As well as the name change, the Emerald Hotel has had a $500,000 refurbishment.

Half of its floors have been redesigned and furnished with new Western Australian carpets and locally-made jarrah furniture.

At the launch, Mr Moore acknowledged the contribution to the tourism industry by the hotel's general manager, Laurie O'Meara.

"Laurie is president of the WA branch of the Tourism Council of Australia, the peak business organisation representing the tourism industry," Mr Moore said.

"As well as serving his third term of office on the council, Laurie has also been a member of the national TCA board for the past three years and is also chairman of the Tourism Awards committee for the fourth year in a row.

"His leadership of the TCA has done much to develop strong partnerships between the industry and Government."

Mr Moore said the tourism industry now was the world's biggest, worth about $US3.4 trillion a year.

"In WA, tourism has an enormous impact across a wide range of industry sectors, from transport to small business, retail and primary industries," he said.

"Last year, the tourism industry employed about one in every 12 WA workers and contributed $2.1 billion to the WA economy."

Media contact: Hartley Joynt, Minister's office, 08 9 321 1444, Roger Buddrige, WA Tourism Commission, 08 9 220 1716.