Panellists from Future Townsville event discuss city’s tourism growth
Outlining areas of growth that could benefit Townsville’s tourism , one panellist at the Future Townsville event put forward a bold statement that the city needs “ten more hotels now”.
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Outlining areas that could benefit Townsville’s tourism growth, one panellist at the Future Townsville event said the city needs “ten more hotels now”.
Townsville Bulletin Editor Jill Poulsen hosted the second panel at the event with Adam Giles from Hancock Agriculture and S. Kidman and Co, Ann Sherry from the Port of Townsville and Stephen Motti from Brazier Motti.
Mr Giles said it was important to activate areas around the city to benefit the residents as well as the tourists.
“There are major opportunities there …” he said.
Port of Townsville chair Ann Sherry said in regards to the Australian Festival of Chamber Music, which was announced to be relocating to Cairns earlier in the week, that the city may end up with a “great concert hall” at some point but the city simply needed “a venue” that does that job.
“The opportunity for us here is to stop talking in pockets. There is so much here that’s positive,” she said.
Mr Giles said Townsville needs “ten more hotels now” and stressed the need for projects to take flight in the city.
“If you don’t grow you die,” he said.
“The communities that try are the ones that thrive… the ones that don’t go backwards and they suffer more in crime… all these attributes that make the results of not a very good credibility factor.”
In making more hotels in the Townsville region, Mr Giles said “all government needs to get out of the way”.
“Governments of all levels have to set the policy parameters to encourage investment,” he said.
“It’s about vision and leadership, it’s not about tax ratepayers or tax taxpayers.”
Mr Motti said Townsville has an issue with “medium-density product” when it comes to planning.
“I think the challenge for this community is to understand and collectively ensure we have a combined aspiration,” he said.
Ms Sherry said there needed to be more of a long-term focus in terms of Townsville’s future infrastructure, no matter who the leaders are in the city.
“We think it’s okay to revisit everything back to first principles every time a person changes in a key job,” she said.
Mr Giles commented on the parts of Townsville that could be improved, noting the first reaction for visitors landing in Townsville.
“I don’t know how good tourism is when I drive out of the airport and I have a rehabilitation centre on my right-hand side and a juvenile correctional facility on my left-hand side.”
In a discussion with editor of The Courier Mail Chris Jones, Premier David Crisafulli said Townsville may be thinking of tourism in the “shadows” but stressed it needed to be “front and centre”.
Mr Crisafulli mentioned the importance of boosting eco-tourism particularly in areas such as Magnetic Island and Palm Island and said the North is “open for business”.
“We should be proud of what we have here in our backyard and we should use it,” he said.
“We want tourism operators to not have to go through the hurdles of multiple government department checklists before they can get something approved.”
Originally published as Panellists from Future Townsville event discuss city’s tourism growth
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