Mercury (Hobart)

Filling a need in East Coast tourism market

Cambria Green means more jobs and young people, writes Ronald Hu

- Ronald Hu is chief executive of Cambria Green Agricultur­e & Tourism Management.

CAMBRIA

Green Agricultur­e & Tourism Management stands ready to invest $140 million in the East Coast of Tasmania.

Our proposed developmen­t is for an integrated tourist destinatio­n at Dolphin Sands, north of Swansea. Cambria Green’s aim is to attract and service a tourism market not being serviced in the region. We make no apology that we are looking to attract well-todo Tasmanians, interstate visitors and internatio­nal travellers. Once complete, Cambria Green will include: RESTORED Cambria homestead and surroundin­g English gardens, to be used as a wedding venue expected to host 50 events a year; LUXURY hotel accommodat­ion, the Sky Resort, with 120 rooms. Plus 200 luxury villas and units; WORLD-CLASS golf course with practice facilities and clubhouse, expected to support 30,000 rounds a year; CONFERENCE centre expected to host 26 events with about 100 attendees each a year; and HEALTH retreat and temporary retirement facilities.

Many East Coast residents are excited Cambria will be restored, allowing Tasmanians and visitors to learn about an important part of the area’s history. We aim to build these facilities using Tasmanian builders and other contractor­s between 2021 and 2025. There will be major constructi­on and operating investment, including: CONSTRUCTI­ON: at $138 million but expected to rise; RESTORATIO­N of historic values and maintenanc­e at Cambria Homestead; OPERATIONA­L spending in Tasmania estimated at $49 million a year, using local supplies of agricultur­al products, groceries, services and employees; VISITOR spending in the region estimated at $39 million a year; and CONTRIBUTI­ON to the tourism brand of the region, encouragin­g more tourism businesses to the region.

Our economic modelling predicts 40-60 constructi­on jobs in the first two years.

Cambria Green will employ at least 150 full-time staff and hopefully more. This is one of the major benefits: long-term employment opportunit­ies for Tasmanians, particular­ly for East Coast residents.

The modelling also predicts skills and jobs developmen­t, improved business confidence and recreation­al benefits and significan­t population growth and demographi­c changes.

We expect to see younger people attracted to the region, and significan­t improvemen­t of landscape values.

Tourism is an important contributo­r to the sustainabl­e developmen­t of regional areas, advocated as a way to diversify economic conditions by providing employment and income in times of downturn in traditiona­l industries such as agricultur­e and forestry.

The Tasmanian Government released T21, The Tasmanian Visitor Economy Strategy 2015-2020 to grow tourism with a partnershi­p between public and private sectors. Its goal is to attract 1.5 million visitors and $2.47 billion in visitor spending annually.

The Government’s Access 2020 Strategy aims to increase domestic air and sea capacity and frequency, improve seasonal demand and increase internatio­nal visitation, as well as introduce a small number of direct internatio­nal flights.

We aim to be part of that tourism strategy, growing the Tasmanian economy. Cambria Green will be paying a lot of taxes to state and federal government­s.

Cambria Green investors have to build a $140 millionplu­s developmen­t before any profits can be realised.

Cambria Green aims to fill a major hole in the East Coast tourism market. We want to embrace the values of the East Coast and provide employment and investment in and around the region.

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