Tourism cash splash injects life into ailing industry
From a three-storey floating hotel on the Reef to eco-tourism glamping and high speed tour boats, tourism operators are investing millions in new attractions to aid Covid recovery.
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It’s the multimillion-dollar cash splash to place Queensland front and centre in the Australian tourism revival.
While the industry has been crippled by the coronavirus pandemic, visionary Queensland entrepreneurs are forging ahead with game-changing tourism developments to ensure the state can take advantage of the expected surge in demand once travel freedoms return.
From a three-storey floating hotel on the Great Barrier Reef to eco-tourism glamping in the Scenic Rim and high-speed tour boats in Moreton Bay, tourism operators are investing millions in new attractions, backed by the state government’s Growing Tourism Infrastructure Fund.
Off the coast of Bundaberg, Lady Musgrave HQ is a $3.8m marine dream, where guests can sleep underwater staring out at the Great Barrier Reef. The 35m-long centre will be able to accommodate 32 overnight guests and hundreds of day-trippers who can visit an underwater observatory or sleep in rooftop glamping sites.
Lady Musgrave Experience managing director Brett Lakey admitted that the project had been “a gamble”, but one worth taking. “Everyone said I was mad to be trying to do this during the pandemic, but I felt like this was the perfect time to do it,” Mr Lakey said.
“When we’re all trying to come out the other side, I think this will be a real positive for the region.”
It will cater for everyone from serious divers to school groups, with experiences costing up to $600-a-night.
Before the pandemic, the attraction was forecast to deliver an extra 16,000 visitors and pump almost $2m annually into the Bundaberg region as one of only a handful of destinations where people can literally sleep on the Great Barrier Reef.
The attraction will feature a bar/kiosk area, undercover seating and tables, showers and other amenities, snorkelling and diving stations while keeping an environmentally friendly mandate, powered by a 52-kilowatt battery bank charged by wind generators and solar panels.
The project received a $1.7m contribution from the state’s tourism infrastructure fund, which has also poured millions into other ventures across the state.
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said that exciting new tourism offerings would be vital for the industry’s recovery.
“We made a deliberate decision to invest in infrastructure because we know that in the long-term, this is vital to supporting tourism jobs in regional Queensland,” Ms Palaszczuk said.
“Thanks to the government’s investment, we’re seeing a number of projects come online at a time operators need them most.
“This will help our tourism industry to rebuild and recover in the months and years to come.”
The attraction will be officially opened by Assistant Tourism Minister Michael Healy on Monday.
Queensland Tourism Industry Council chief executive Daniel Gschwind said projects such as Lady Musgrave HQ would bring a new dimension to travel at a time when people were starting to dream about the return of international travel.
“When travel does return to a more normal experience, it is going to be a very competitive market and we need experiences and innovations to put us ahead of the pack,” he said.
“Queensland tourism was built on the back of pioneers who took a risk to bring something to life and there is a real opportunity here to follow in those footsteps,” Mr Gschwind said.
The $25m Growing Tourism Infrastructure Fund is a key element of the Queensland government’s economic recovery strategy to create jobs to help accelerate the state’s recovery from Covid-19.
Other projects given a boost under the fund include Splitters Farm, a rural camping and farm stay experience near Bundaberg, which has been granted more than $1m to develop more than 60 campsites and glamping safari tents.
The government has also backed the Undara Experience in the Gulf Savannah with funding to construct 18 units to support local tourism, including the famous lava tubes.
Other projects to benefit from the fund are the Museum of Underwater Art off the coast of Townsville and the Australian Age of Dinosaurs, which opened a new multimillion-dollar expansion in July.
The investment comes as Queensland looks to take advantage of the massive boost in tourism in the lead-up to the Brisbane Olympics in 2032.
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