Australia seeks overseas tourism investment

FROM Gold Coast high rises to island nature retreats, overseas investors are being encouraged to buy into Australian tourism.

Tourism Australia, Austrade and the federal government have teamed up to attract domestic and foreign investors, hoping to finance tourism developments around the country.

Launched in Melbourne on Wednesday, the tourism investment project has compiled a folio of 75 tourism projects around Australia needing investment.

The government hopes that this will help achieve its goal of increasing the value of tourism from its current $70 billion a year to $140 billion a year by 2020.

Investment projects listed include a five star hotel on the Perth waterfront, redevelopment of Melbourne’s Hotel Windsor, expansion of a nature retreat on South Australia’s Kangaroo Island, a 50-storey Gold Coast hotel, an eco-safari tent camp at Queensland’s Airlie Beach, accommodation on Aboriginal land in the Northern Territory, the $6 billion Barangaroo development on Sydney harbour and a wilderness lodge at Tasmania’s Lake St Clair.

The project has also produced a Tourism Investment Monitor, outlining tourism data to potential investors.

It says there is currently $42 billion currently committed or being considered for Australian tourism projects, but that to achieve the goal of earning $140 billion a year, more investment is needed in accommodation, transport and leisure attractions and experiences.

Tourism Minister Martin Ferguson said Australia hoped to make the most of the Asian boom by opening its tourism industry to both investors and visitors.

“By 2020 Australia could have more than one million visitors from China each year, spending $9 billion on an annual basis,” he said.

“The Australian government is hanging out the `open for business’ sign for tourism.”

Australian Tourism Export Council managing director Felicia Mariani welcomed the initiative, saying the industry needed an additional 40,000 to 70,000 accommodation rooms to achieve its 2020 goals.