Pro-Invest will develop the Holiday Inn Express & Suites Sunshine Coast hotel in the heart of the new Maroochydore CBD

International hotel brand Holiday Inn has revealed its plans to launch a 167-bedroom hotel, delivering much-needed jobs, in a Queensland region where tourist numbers are set to boom.

An artist's impression of the 167-room Holiday Inn Express & Suites Sunshine Coast hotel in the new Maroochydore CBD.

THE Sunshine Coast’s first new internationally-branded hotel in three decades is scheduled to open its doors next year.

The proposed 167-room Holiday Inn Express & Suites Sunshine Coast hotel will be located in the heart of the new Maroochydore CBD.

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It will be developed by Pro-Invest and the hotel is scheduled to open at end of 2020, complementing official launch of new international-capable runway at Sunshine Coast Airport

Pro-Invest chief executive Ronald Barrott said the Sunshine Coast was going through an unprecedented economic transformation.

“This will be one of the region’s most significant tourism infrastructure projects in decades,” he said.

“The Sunshine Coast is transitioning from a largely leisure-based market to a more diversified market with major growth in businesses establishing themselves in the region to take advantage of large-scale infrastructure projects.”

It will be the company’s second hotel development in Queensland after opening the Holiday Inn Express Brisbane Central in 2017.

The nine-storey Holiday Inn Express & Suites is planned to have 167 rooms, a swimming pool, bar and dining venue, conference and function facilities, and ground-level retail.

Pro-Invest identified the site and negotiated its acquisition with Sunshine Coast Council and Economic Development Queensland.

Mr Barrott said national visitor survey figures showed record numbers for the Sunshine Coast, with domestic visitor expenditure growing 22.7 per cent, and visitor numbers up 15 per cent in the year to March 2019.

He said international visitor expenditure grew 20.5 per cent for the same period.

“The Holiday Inn Express brand is ideal for the destination as its upper-midscale positioning will make it highly-suitable for targeting business, meetings and leisure travellers,”Mr Barrott said.