‘35,000 screaming tourists’: Brisbane’s role in new tourism strategy

Attracting bigger events, more business tourism and new product development will be Brisbane’s focus for the next 20 years, as the government continues to cement its plan to grow the state’s tourism industry.

Destination 2045: Queensland’s Tourism Future was announced on Monday, but the news mostly concentrated on the introduction of 45 new ecotourism projects.

On Thursday, Minister for the Environment and Tourism Andrew Powell brought together stakeholders at 1 William Street to discuss how Brisbane fits into the plan, with events to lead growth in the local tourism industry.

Queensland’s tourism minister wants Brisbane to become the events capital of Australia over the next 20 years. Credit: Tammy Law

“If we focus on events, it’s sports, culture, music, business,” Powell said.

“You can have a business event that brings in 5000 delegates that books out hotels. It means that your restaurants and your cafés are full. It means there’s certainty around employment in those industries and jobs for locals.

“We want to be the events capital of Australia.”

Brisbane has been eyeing infrastructure to host larger stadium events since securing the 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games, and has committed to building a new 63,000 seat stadium at Victoria Park.

But contrary to ambitions to become the events capital of Australia, the Crisafulli government removed Brisbane Arena, the indoor stadium pitched to replace Boondall’s ageing entertainment centre, from the plan.

Powell said the government remains confident this key piece of event infrastructure will be delivered by the private market, and possibly in time for the Olympics.

“We’ve already got stadiums that we can put events in to, and we’re going to have new stadiums like Victoria Park,” he said.

Destination 2045 will leverage and improve existing infrastructure, and attract investment in new projects. Credit: Brisbane Economic Development Agency

“There will be some form of indoor arena, I have no doubt about it. Sitting over there next to the existing Gabba.”

Powell said they were also interested to hear pitches from new operators to develop products – like the Story Bridge climb – to enhance use of existing infrastructure and the city’s natural assets like the river.

“We want to partner as a government with some of our existing attractions, but we also want to open the doors and see who else is there that wants to do something.”

Brisbane Economic Development Agency chief executive Anthony Ryan said Destination 2045 would deliver confidence to investors and bring operators together to discuss leveraging new opportunities.

“On July 2 you’ve got the British Irish Lions playing the Reds, and July 19th is the first test,” Ryan said.

“We worked really hard with Tourism and Events Queensland to get those two separated so we’d have those 35,000 screaming British and Irish Lions tourists in the city twice over an extended two-week period.”

The “secret sauce” to kickstarting Brisbane’s long-term strategy, Ryan added, has been bringing stakeholders together to share their event schedule, making it easier to locate gaps in the year, and identify events that might be complementary.

While plans to make Brisbane the country’s “events capital” are underway, investment in supportive infrastructure such as hotels to meet accommodation demands is still needed.

Last month, Queensland Tourism Industry Council warned the state’s hotel room inventory is currently tracking short of what is required to meet event demand.

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