SEQ 2032 Olympics: Qld homes will be needed for accommodation
If southeast Queensland snags the 2032 Olympics it will be a boon for the region’s Airbnb hosts. Here’s how many rooms will be needed.
QLD News
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THOUSANDS of Queensland homeowners could cash in on the Olympics, with bid organisers revealing 10,000 rooms will need to be found beyond traditional hotels to handle the influx of spectators, media and officials at an SEQ 2032 Games.
The State Government’s 2032 Olympics and Paralympics blueprint says – on top of benefits including 130,000 new jobs and burgeoning industries – southeast Queensland would need to find 81,000 rooms: 41,000 for Games stakeholders (including 18,000 media), 25,000 for spectators and 15,000 for workers.
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With 60,000 rooms currently across the southeast tipped to grow to 70,000 by 2032, another 11,000 rooms will need to be found, the report says, pointing to the 18,000 Airbnb hosts across Brisbane, the Gold and Sunshine coasts.
Other accommodation could include cruise ships moored in the Brisbane River, holiday parks, school boarding houses and temporary or modular housing, the report says.
The school holidays would be synchronised to match the Olympics, which would run sometime between July 15 and August 31, 2032, opening up accommodation at boarding schools and universities, as well as giving school kids and teachers the chance to get along to the Games or volunteer.
“The preferred dates are Olympic Games from Friday July 23 to Sunday August 8, 2032, Paralympic Games from Tuesday August 24 to Sunday September 5, 2032,” the blueprint says.
It says the Games benefits outweigh the costs, and could open up over $35 billion in new exports, jobs and tourism return.
Roads, rail and other infrastructure that the SEQ needs to handle a 1.9m increase in population in the next 25 years would be fast-tracked for the Olympics.
Small and medium-sized businesses could cash in, with the blueprint saying “Games procurement volumes would generate unprecedented demand and the long lead time offers opportunities for innovative suppliers to generate both windfall sales and sustainable capability, driving ongoing opportunities”.
An SEQ Olympics would create 5000 jobs a year across Queensland in the lead up to the Games, spiking with another 115,000 in the final year, with an economic benefit that could top $36 billion: $7.4 billion in quantifiable benefits, plus a potential $20.2 billion uplift in international visitor expenditure between 2020 and 2036, and increased export opportunities worth a possible $8.6 billion.
Post-Games tourism is tipped to create 10,000 jobs over three years.
The $4.45 billion cost of running the Games would be completely offset for taxpayers with a $$2.5 billion grant from the IOC, ticket sales and sponsorship, the report says.
Setting the stage for the Olympics would also provide spin-offs like securing the title of Queensland being “Australia’s event state”, help position “SEQ as the most liveable place in the world by 2040 and provide a competitive advantage for the state” and “a chance to bring Queensland’s capital to life by simultaneously lighting up the city around connected dynamic entertainment precincts that enable it to be activated year-round for all genres of major events for decades to come”.
The Council of Mayors (SEQ) proposed a Games bid to fast-track new roads and rail with a feasibility study which gathered momentum on the back of The Courier-Mail’s Future SEQ campaign.
In June, The Courier-Mail and southeast Queensland sister mastheads officially backed the bid with front page editorials.
In December, Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk announced Queensland was going for the 2032 Olympics and Paralympics, won over by projections showing billions of dollars extra would pour into the state economy.
Ms Palaszczuk said she was determined an Olympics must be inclusive of the whole state.
Originally published as SEQ 2032 Olympics: Qld homes will be needed for accommodation
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