$40m six-storey hotel planned to neighbour Anchorage Hotel in Victor Harbor
A new six-storey hotel at Victor Harbor – backed by an international chain – will drive a surge in tourism for the region, its owners say.
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A $40 million, six-storey hotel building overlooking the bay at Victor Harbor will help draw tourists to the area for longer and provide a much-needed shot in the arm for local businesses, its proponents say.
Anchorage Hotel owner Greg Phillips has lodged plans with Victor Harbor Council for the complex, which if approved, will sit alongside the State Heritage-listed pub on Flinders Pde.
The four-and-a-half-star complex includes 126 rooms, five two-storey apartments, to be sold to private buyers and a conference area with room for 400 people.
It will be managed by international hotel chain Wyndham. Mr Phillips expects the development to be a “game changer” for Victor Harbor, where businesses often suffer a strong trade downturn during the cooler months.
“We get three or four months of very good trade and the rest of the year is just hanging on for survival,” he told The Advertiser.
“If we can get people to stay down there instead of Adelaide, all the businesses will benefit from that.”
The plans also include refurbishments to the existing Anchorage Hotel and a new multistorey, 266-space carpark.
A footbridge will link the hotel and carpark, with parks also available to the public to ease a lack of spaces in town.
The footbridge will rise over the SteamRanger Heritage Railway line.
Mr Phillips said addressing the seasonal trade at Victor Harbor was key to the business’s plans.
“We’ve had the Anchorage Hotel for about 18 years and we had growth for the first 14 or 15 years, then it just plateaued,” he said.
“I wanted to attract an international hotel group into Victor – they can reach into markets we can’t reach into. It will make the hotel a destination hotel.
“The conference centre is also a massive attraction to bring businesses in.” The project will create work for 217 people during construction and 112 people would work there after it is complete.
The business expects the project to inject $12.4 million into the regional economy each year.
Mr Phillips hopes it will make Victor Harbor the focus for tourists keen to explore the South Coast and Coorong.
“International tourists traditionally stay in Adelaide and go down for the day – they don’t use Victor Harbor as a base,” he said.
Victor Harbor Council is expected to release the plans for public consultation within about a fortnight.
Mayor Moira Jenkins said locals had so far been supportive of the plans. “The community see that the development is going to create long-term jobs both during the development and afterwards,” Dr Jenkins said.
“These jobs will include traineeships and apprenticeships and jobs for young people around the South Coast.”
michelle.etheridge@news.com.au