Some of the State's most influential business leaders flocked to Bunbury last week for the South West Focus Conference, which organisers have hailed a success.
For two days, more than 250 people a day sat in on presentations and workshops by industry experts, with a focus on exploring the future of the South West and opportunities for people to tap into.
Priority projects in the South West Regional Blueprint, which was officially launched at the event, were big talking points during the conference.
It wrapped up on Thursday with one of the final workshops, from TripAdvisor senior sales executive Jessica Quinlan, about investment within the tourism industry.
The workshop included a panel of industry experts including Australia's South West executive board chairwoman Dee Smith and South West Development Commission tourism development officer Mark Exeter.
During the panel discussion, Ms Smith said tourism industry operators needed to "be ready" for the region to become an official tourism hub.
She said the South West and Great Southern regions were on target to reach a 2020 target of $2 billion of business spend.
SWDC chief executive officer Don Punch said there were significant changes happening in the market that industry leaders needed to understand.
He said the conference was important in helping people to understand how they should embrace the future.
"The presentation about TripAdvisor alone showed we have an audience of up to 340 million people on social media," he said.
"Conferences like this bring home what's happening and help us to understand how best to position the region for the future."
Mr Punch said informal feedback on the conference had been positive.
"It has prompted discussion and ideas and people felt it was really worthwhile and provided significant insight," Mr Punch said.
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