swamped

Fine reporting from Nicole Cox at The Sunday Times on a dinghy being dumped off the beautiful island.

Two blokes were collected about 500m off Marjorie Bay late this morning.

At least they were there: this story earlier this week by ace reporter Geoffrey Thomas said locals were eschewing Rottnest for Asian destinations.

Rottnest has borne the brunt of the changing travel patterns and in the eight months to the end of February attracted 32,330 fewer people - a 13 per cent drop - than the 247,249 in the same period the previous year, Geoff reported.

But Rottnest Island Authority chief executive Paolo Amaranti said June visitor numbers were in line with previous years and last-minute bookings were up last month.

"The number of winter packages sold to date far outstrips those sold for the same period last year," Mr Amaranti said.

"Demand for RIA accommodation units continues to far outstrip supply during the peak summer period, with 4500 applications received for the summer ballot 2010 for a total of 1300 available units."