Fitzroy Island Resort near Cairns is on the market for about $35m

One of only five large-scale operational island resorts in Queensland is on the market for the third time in seven years, but this time there could be a buyer.

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One of Queensland’s largest island resorts is on the market with expectations that international buyers will be vying with Australian richlisters for the property.

Fitzroy Island Resort near Cairns is being marketed by Colliers via an international expressions of interest campaign with expectations it will sell for around $35m.

Covering 4.4ha of beachfront land of the 339h national park the resort is one of only five operational island resorts of this scale in Queensland.

It is the third time in seven years that property developer Doug Gamble and his family has put the resort on the market. The last time was in 2019 when he had it on the market for about $30m.

Colliers Head of Hotels Australia Karen Wales said the sale represented the perfect combination of a profitable, income generating business with value add repositioning opportunities in an irreplaceable location within the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage area.

“Fitzroy Island is one of the most unspoilt islands on the Great Barrier Reef providing any traveller with pristine Australian natural beauty at their doorstep,” she said.

“The resort operates a range of sustainability programs and initiatives to engage purposefully in the circular economy.”

Fitzroy Island and Little Fitzroy Island, off the Far North Queensland.

The island is a 30km ferry ride from Cairns and the resort includes a waterfront restaurant and 106 accommodation suites.

Mr Gamble paid $8m for property in 2010, when he bought it from receivers and since then he has pumped millions of dollars into the resort.

In the past few years cashed up Australians have splashed out buying Queensland island resorts.

Last year Atlassian co-founder Mike Cannon-Brookes’ his wife, Annie purchased Dunk Island for about $24m and hospitality entrepreneur Glenn Piper paid about $12m for Hook Island.

Shayne Smith, founder of Perle Ventures and travel insurance group Cover-More paid about $8m for the Elysian Retreat on Long Island from the Rumble family’s Sojourn Group.

The year ended with local developer Shaun Juniper and his wife Samantha buying the Lindeman Island resort for a rumoured $20m.

The Sojourn Group still has Pumpkin Island on the market.

Fitzroy Island Resort is undergoing a million dollar makeover in anticipation of international visitors flying into Cairns and wanting to enjoy the popular Barrier Reef resort.

JLL Hotels & Hospitality Group executive vice president Adam Bury said 2023 was shaping up as an “interesting year” in capital markets.

“Offshore buyers remain interested in resort and island assets and JLL fielded numerous inquiries throughout 2022 from such groups,” he said.

“There remains almost record amounts of capital to be deployed into real estate assets and the cheap Australian dollar combined with further easing to travel restrictions in Asia is providing the opportunity for foreign capital to come back to the market.

“That said, interest rates remain the story globally and this will impact investors’ willingness to deploy capital potential in the first quarter.”

The Australian accommodation industry recovered at a faster pace through 2022 than what was originally anticipated at the start of the year as the reopening of the Australian border allowed for the flow of pent-up leisure demand, followed by the return of MICE and corporate demand.

The major leisure markets recorded strong gains as holiday travel underpinned the recovery. Hotels in Cairns recorded strong average daily rate (ADR) growth, surging 44.7 per cent over the pre-pandemic level.

Fitzroy Island Resort has a long-term track record of delivering healthy profits with strong occupancy growth over the past decade and reaching a pinnacle over the past two years with occupancies reach 79.4 per cent in 2022, well above the 72.6 per cent recorded in 2019.