Altum Property Group reveals plans for Glamping Tent Hotel on Great Keppel Island

The project would comprise 50 temporary Eco Tents and would include tidying parts of the island and installing surveillance equipment.

An Eco Tent by Eco Tents Australia.

Altum Property Group on Tuesday announced plans to build and let tents on Great Keppel Island’s Fisherman’s Beach, the same day Queensland’s Resources Minister said the developer would not receive leases for its resort on the island.

The Glamping Tent Hotel would contain 50 temporary Eco Tents in the vicinity of current GKI leaseholder Tower Holdings’ run-down resort building, and as part of it, Altum would tidy parts of the island and install surveillance equipment.

Altum is in negotiations with Tower Holdings about the project, and requires Livingstone Shire Council approval for construction.

The Noosa-based developer intends to rent land from Tower Holdings, build the tent village and associated infrastructure for about $8 million, and with an operating partner to let the tents to island visitors.

Altum director Rob McCready said his goal was to get tourists to GKI and begin to clean the island of debris to eventually attract additional funding for Altum’s larger resort.

“The Glamping Tent Hotel will give the island much needed additional beds to cope with the boom in regional tourism while planning and design on the breakwall, barge ramp and ferry terminal is completed,” he said.

“Once we’re ready to build the hotel, the Glamping Tent Hotel will be relocated.

“The glamping tents we are favouring are Eco Tents – a local Queensland company.”

Mr McCready said he would work with current GKI leaseholder Tower Holdings to progress Altum’s resort plans while the company applied again to have the island leases transferred to it.

“The new lease transfer application will outline our new plan to stage the project more gradually to provide more certainty to the Queensland Government regarding our financial capacity to fund the project,” he said.

“The glamping offer requires a straightforward approval from local government.”

“Altum will continue to work with the Queensland Government on the shared commitment to develop the tourism potential of GKI and we have several high level meetings this week to progress this further.”

Altum hopes the village will be finished in time for end-of-year holidays.

Resources Minister Scott Stewart spoke earlier on Tuesday about the rejection of Altum’s application for GKI leases.

He said the government was “working with Tower [Holdings] around what we can do, and what we need to do to go forward and working with them about some alternatives as well”.

“We continue to work with a whole range of proponents around how we can actually get more infrastructure and tourism happening right across Queensland on our great islands … but we’ve also got to make sure that it stacks up environmentally and also stacks up financially.

“There is a 40-day process, or 40-day appeals process that Altum certainly have in front of them, but we’ll continue to look at other options and other alternatives.”

He did not later comment on the Glamping Tent Hotel idea.

A Department of Resources spokesman said: “Any agreement by Tower Holdings to sublease an area to another entity would require the consent of the department and such subleases must be consistent with the purpose of Tower Holdings’ lease.”

Livingstone Shire mayor Andy Ireland declined to comment.

Originally published as Altum Property Group reveals plans for Glamping Tent Hotel on Great Keppel Island