Huge development to transform Sunshine Coast
A huge development project is being planned with the intention of transforming Queensland’s Sunshine Coast into a global tourist destination.
Local businessman Professor Clive Palmer has announced plans for a huge development including a new Sunshine Coast International Airport, a new beachfront hotel, retail complex, convention centre, casino, theme park, water park, aviary and aquarium. The new facilities will be built on the site of the existing Palmer Coolum Resort.
“The new airport will be capable of taking A380s and 747 jumbo jets from Singapore, Beijing and Tokyo directly to the Sunshine Coast,” stated Professor Palmer. “Hawaii and other Pacific nations have taken all the real tourism growth out of the Australian and Queensland economies. We have not been able to compete with the beachfront development at Waikiki in Hawaii or with Fiji and other destinations because of restrictions.
“As a consequence of this, Queensland jobs and families have suffered as have our children’s future and the state’s revenue. It’s time we made a change and reclaimed the state’s mantle as Australia’s and the world’s premium tourist destination,” he added.
Professor Palmer said a key part of the project would be the expansion of the Sunshine Coast Airport to allow for more flights from Asia.
“This will significantly boost the region’s capacity to accommodate both domestic and international visitors and it will create enormous interest in a country such as China and its growing tourism market,” he said, adding that the airport would be linked to the new resort complex by monorail.
“We also plan to operate an ocean-going hovercraft service with capacity for up to 400 people from the Brisbane CBD to Coolum,” he said.
The new beachfront hotels will hold approximately 1,000 rooms, while the convention centre will be designed to hold 5,000 people. Professor Palmer also stated his aim to develop “an aviary to accommodate multiple species of native Australian birds… a beachside water park and a theme park”.
“We will spend the next six months seeing if the community wants the Sunshine Coast to lead the world. The construction phase would take approximately three years,” he added.
In the 12 months ending 31 March 2012, the Sunshine Coast attracted 3.08 million tourists, of which only 237,000 came from overseas. By contrast, the more popular Gold Coast attracted 4.05m tourists over the same period, including 740,000 international visitors.