Rich natural resources have brought a business boom to Perth’s sunny shores, reports Chris Pritchard.
Perth is “easy Australia” – that’s my conclusion after my first day in Western Australia’s state capital. Having spent a productive yet unhurried day visiting a number of contacts, I phone a friend at 5pm, who suggests a drink in his 18th-floor office on St Georges Terrace. The view is captivating – the Swan River, along which the city’s residents sail their yachts in a stiff breeze. “We work hard and play hard,” says my friend, a British émigré, noticing my repeated glances out of the window.
My early-morning journey in from the airport, about half an hour’s drive from downtown, had been equally breezy. Passing Burswood’s sprawling entertainment complex and the hallowed WACA cricket stadium, I soon reached Adelaide Terrace, which becomes St Georges Terrace, Perth’s main drag located near the river’s edge.
The compact grid system means it’s impossible to get lost. Business etiquette is laid-back and almost gaffe-proof. I wear a suit but find jackets discarded as rapidly as first names are used. The solitary golden rule? Be punctual.
Business hotels such as the Hyatt Regency, Novotel and Pan Pacific (see overleaf) are clustered along Adelaide and St Georges. Meetings are often in high-rises reached easily on foot, though taxis wait at hotels, car hire companies compete vigorously, and free buses run frequently, covering several downtown routes.
The climate, often described as Mediterranean, is wet mid-year, with mid-teen temperatures typical. Summers are dry and warm – commonly in the mid-20s but occasionally hitting the 30s – while it’s cool from March.
“Perth is Australia’s sunniest capital,” says Stephanie Buckland, chief executive of Tourism Western Australia. “With 19 white sandy beaches, it averages 3,000 hours of sunshine a year. There’s something for everyone – an outdoor lifestyle, great food, vibrant nightlife and world-class shopping.”
Matt Young, Western Australia general manager for Accor Hotels, agrees. “Perth has enjoyed a rise in sophistication as a result of mining boom money. The bar and restaurant scene approaches Melbourne’s in terms of quality and innovation. Its laneways have intimate bars, and with warm evenings for nine out of 12 months, the dining scene would be the envy of most cities.”
He adds: “You can finish your working day with a swim in the sea, followed by drinks and dinner in the open. With locals saying the state props up the rest of Australia’s economy, there’s an infectious vibe of confidence and progressiveness.”
Business is certainly booming. “Western Australia is the nation’s economic powerhouse, producing 46 per cent of exports,” Buckland says. It produces one-fifth of the world’s iron ore, as well as crude oil, liquefied natural gas, gold (some 70 per cent of Australia’s total output), nickel, alumina, diamonds and planned uranium.
She adds: “Perth is a regional resources hub and many of the world’s biggest companies have established corporate bases here, including BHP Billiton, Chevron and Rio Tinto.”
Mining is the top industry in a state with 270 mines, and the sector accounts for much corporate travel to the city, where controlling companies maintain offices. The boom’s frontline is centred on Karratha, 1,500km from Perth and commonly dubbed Australia’s most expensive town – residents share it with cashed-up miners flown from Perth on fly-in-fly-out charters.
Iron ore is the number-one mineral, with 64 per cent going to China. A slowing Chinese economy sparked suggestions elsewhere in Australia that the curtain was falling on mining’s boom times, but in Perth such talk is muted. Analysts suggest demand will continue, though less frenetically, and extensive iron ore and natural gas reserves are forecast to last well into the next century.
As one might expect from a state of this size, the second-biggest export market is agriculture – notably, wool, beef, wheat, fruit and wine. Fish is exported, particularly to Asia, pearls are farmed near far-northern Broome, and forestry is significant.
The sheer size of Perth’s backyard is mind-boggling – Western Australia is 11 times bigger than the UK. Its arid wide-open spaces comprise one-third of the country, but vast tracts are uninhabited – some 78 per cent of the state’s population live in Perth, while the rest are overwhelmingly in towns such as Karratha, gold-mining Kalgoorlie and tourist-driven Broome. With its closest major urban area being some 2,100km south in Adelaide, it’s no wonder Perth calls itself the world’s most isolated capital. Locals often confide it’s cheaper and easier to visit Asian destinations than their own country’s eastern cities.
Business travellers may also find visiting comes at a cost. Young is upfront about room rates in what is the country’s most expensive state capital. “Perth is Australia’s most ‘supercharged’ city in terms of corporate travel,” he says. “With bumper demand since the end of the global financial crisis and no substantial new supply in the past decade, three- and four-star hotels have edged towards A$300 [£193] a night from Monday to Thursday, with five-stars averaging almost A$430 [£279]. It’s an expensive city, but such is the supply-demand equation.”
This situation is likely to continue, with the next new-build hotel – an addition to the Burswood complex from hotel and casino company Crown – not due to open until 2016. A few smaller conversion properties may come on to the market before then, while Frasers Hospitality opened a 236-unit serviced apartment complex in October.
What the city is abundant in is post-work attractions. By the river and offering great views is the 82.5-metre tall Swan Bell Tower, built 25 years ago to house 18 bells from St Martin-in-the-Fields church, a gift to Perth from London. On St Georges is the 75-year-old mock-Tudor London Court, a shopping arcade that is more kitsch than quaint, which leads to the main retail zone on Murray and Hay streets.
Head over the horseshoe-shaped bridge across Perth rail station and you’ll come to Northbridge, the city’s most central entertainment district. The Brass Monkey (thebrassmonkey.com.au)
is a good watering hole serving microbrewery beers. Also here is the Art Gallery of Western Australia, home to an extensive collection of aboriginal work, the experimental Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts and, a few blocks away, the history-rich Western Australian Museum.
Downtown, close to Murray and Hay, is the West End – a warehouse district reborn as Perth’s hippest dining and shopping zone. Look out for His Majesty’s Theatre, a 110-year-old Edwardian-style edifice painstakingly restored and staging symphonies, opera, ballet, drama and musicals.
If you have more spare time, river cruises leave from Barrack Street Jetty for the historic suburb of Fremantle, Swan Valley vineyards (Margaret River is a further-afield cellar-door option if you have several days) and whale-watching off the coast (September to December). Fremantle can also be reached by rail in 35 minutes. Built in sandstone by 19th-century British convicts, its attractions include a World Heritage-listed prison and the Shipwreck Galleries, an archaeological museum displaying sailing ships that crashed off this wild coast.
Fremantle is also good for dining, with kangaroo and emu on the menu. “We’re the only nation to eat its coat-of-arms,” quips a waitress at foodie pub the Sail and Anchor (sailandanchor.com.au).
Nearby is the “cappuccino strip”, home to Italianate coffee shops with al fresco tables, while Fremantle Markets’ warren of covered stalls is ideal for souvenir-hunting.
Just up the coast is Cottesloe, one of the city’s top beaches. You can enjoy classy-yet-casual dining here at Indiana (indiana.com.au), housed in a renovated century-old beachside teahouse, where you can wash down oysters with Margaret River sparkling wines.
From Fremantle, a 25-minute ferry ride will take you to Rottnest Island, where walking trails, cycling paths and strange cat-sized marsupials called quokkas attract visitors also coming for swimming, snorkelling and diving.
I finish my day back towards the city’s offices at the long-established Frasers restaurant (frasersrestaurant.com.au) – a good option for business entertaining with a sterling reputation for seafood, beef and lamb. Heading back to my hotel, I again notice boats bobbing on the Swan – Perth’s residents are still playing, I think to myself.
Where to stay
Hyatt Regency
This modern five-star property is close to the WACA cricket ground. Its 367 rooms are large and some offer Swan River views. Joe’s Oriental Diner serves excellent South East Asian fare, the lobby-level Conservatory is well-suited to business huddles, and Plain Street bar is good for relaxed drinks.
- Rooms from A$299 (£194); 99 Adelaide Terrace; hyatt.com
Novotel
This four-star hotel has 253 well-equipped rooms and suites – the latter have Swan views. Sen5es is a fine-dining restaurant serving modern Australian cuisine – similar to Californian but with Asian spiciness – while Fenians is a pleasantly boisterous Irish pub that attracts the after-work crowd.
- Rooms from A$359 (£236); 221 Adelaide Terrace; novotel.com
Pan Pacific
This 486-room former Sheraton, smartly refurbished in 2011, is a five-star link in the Asian Pan Pacific chain. Rooms (some with Swan vistas) have spacious marble bathrooms and good business amenities. The lobby lounge is popular for hushed shop talk, while Origins attracts a corporate crowd for fine dining.
- Rooms from A$440 (£286); 207 Adelaide Terrace; panpacific.com
Parmelia Hilton
This 284-room downtown hotel is arguably Perth’s best-located five-star property; a short walk to many appointments. Rooms are spacious, the Adelphi Steakhouse and Bar is an in-vogue post-work watering hole, and Globe is an upscale eatery and wine bar popular for business entertaining.
- Rooms from A$500 (£325); 14 Mill Street; hilton.com
