Queensland needs ‘thousands more hotel rooms’ before 2032 Games

Planning for thousands of new hotel rooms in Queensland has begun for the 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games, Tourism and Sports Minister Michael Healy said.

A state government report identifying how many rooms are needed, where and by when is under way and will make recommendations in early 2025.

Healy’s comments came as new Tourism and Queensland figures showed the three-day NRL Magic Round in 2023 injected a staggering $41.1 million into the local economy with footy fans staying a collective 123,000 bed nights. “Bed night” figures refer to the bed (not room) occupancy of a hotel.

Surf Life Savers featured in the Gold Coast’s 2018 Commonwealth Games opening ceremony.Credit: Dita Alangkara/AP

Healy began discussions with Greater Brisbane tourism operators and Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner this week.

“Brisbane needs more hotel rooms and as a government, we need to be able to identify those opportunities, and we are in the process of getting that document underway,” Healy said.

“We need thousands more rooms.

“Currently the Tourism Department is conducting a review to work that is already being done in that space.

“We are talking about the growth that is needed in our cities and across the state.”

Brisbane in April 2023 had 21,000 hotel rooms, with a further 3000 under construction.

Since 2017, 12 hotels with 2466 rooms, have opened in central Brisbane and its fringe suburbs.

Brisbane’s hotel room numbers have grown by 7 per cent year-on-year since 2017, according to JLL commercial property analysts.

Schrinner – who also chairs the South-east Queensland Council of Mayors – said more than 7 million people visited Brisbane in 2023.

But Schrinner said the Games 2032 hotel room research needed to stretch statewide, unlike the 2018 Commonwealth Games.

“We’ve had some fantastic new hotels, like The Calile Hotel, W Brisbane, Hotel X and the Westin, added to our city in recent years which have really helped meet all that extra demand,” he said.

“There’s also more hotels in the pipeline, including in the new Queens’ Wharf precinct.

Brisbane’s new Westin Hotel in Mary St is one of 12 new hotels in Brisbane since 2017.

“However, with the Brisbane 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games events spread across Queensland, it’s not just Brisbane that’s going to need more hotel rooms.

“It’s regional cities like Cairns, Townsville and the Sunshine Coast.”

The state’s peak tourism body, the Queensland Tourism Industry Council, suggested in its 2023 submission to this year’s state budget that under-used office blocks in Brisbane could become hotels.

What was learned ‘accommodation-wise’ from the 2018 Commonwealth Games

• Accommodation included hotels, apartments, homestay, Airbnb, camping and tourist parks.
• During the Games, Gold Coast accommodation occupancy rate averaged 88 per cent.
• This was 12 per cent higher than the same period in 2017. $75 million was spent on accommodation.
• The 2032 Games however include venues in Brisbane, Gold Coast, Sunshine Coast and North Queensland.
• More than 11,000 guests stayed in Airbnb accommodation during the 2018 Gold Coast Games.
• Visitors in 2018 stayed in accommodation up to four hours drive time to a Games venue ie on the Sunshine Coast for Gold Coast based events.
• Summary: 6600 athletes, 71 nations, broadcast audience 1.5 billion people.
• $2.5 billion generated for Queensland.

Source: Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games Post-Games report 2019

Healy said developers were already identifying hotel locations in regional and North Queensland.

He said one – Ghassan Aboud’s Crystalbrook Collection Group – had invested over half a billion dollars in the shape of two new hotels and one refurbished hotel in Cairns.

“But he also has properties in Brisbane and in Sydney and in regional areas.”

The Australian Financial Review reported the Syrian-born Dubai developer now lives in Australia after buying the Rydges Tradewinds in Cairns, which he bought for $34 million in 2016.

Queensland’s Sports and Tourism Minister Michael Healy said he met with lord mayor Adrian Schrinner last week to begin hotel planning research for the 2032 Olympics and Paralympics.Credit: Annette Dew

Since establishing a base in Cairns with three hotels, Crystalbrook has expanded into Sydney, Byron Bay, Brisbane and Newcastle. It also owns 16 restaurants and bars, three spas and the Crystalbrook Superyacht Marina in Port Douglas, it reports.

Brisbane’s previous lord mayor Graham Quirk offered incentives to developers to add hotel room stock to Brisbane in the lead-up to 2014’s G20 conference and the 2018 Commonwealth Games.

Between 2014 and 2018, 4030 hotel rooms were added in Brisbane after 11 hotel developers were able to apply for $3.1 million in infrastructure fee reductions.

Healy, who represents the seat of Cairns, said the discussions with Schrinner at present were “very broad” and had not discussed incentives like infrastructure fee reductions.