The Cairns Post

Premier’s tourism thumbs up

- PETER CARRUTHERS peter.caxrruther­s@news.com.au

PREMIER Annastacia Palaszczuk has assured billionare developer Ghassan Aboud her government’s plans to attract more tourists to FNQ are on track after his bombshell decision to freeze a $250m Port Douglas marina plan. The Premier, with Cairns MP Michael Healy, talked tourism while touring Trinity Bay State High School’s new $10.5m STEAM hub with (from left) Shani Whittaker, 13, and Butawang Hunt, 14, and student leaders for 2020 Lana Bahadur, 17, Ferdinand De Luna, 18, and Quiara Caro, 17.

DESPITE threats from billionair­e Syrian hotelier Ghassan Aboud to shelve plans for a $250 million superyacht marina in Port Douglas, the shire’s mayor still has faith the project will go ahead.

Mr Aboud delivered an ultimatum calling on the State Government to prove it could deliver enough internatio­nal visitors to make the Port Douglas project economical­ly viable.

Douglas Shire Mayor Julia Leu, at the official opening of the Bailey hotel this week, was told by Mr Aboud a developmen­t applicatio­n for the marina could be lodged as early as next year.

“(He) assured me that they were finalising designs and a developmen­t applicatio­n would be submitted,” she said.

“While the time frame may have slipped, I am confident that this will go ahead sometime in the future.”

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk, visiting Cairns yesterday responded to Mr Aboud’s ultimatum by spruiking the State Government’s $10 million aviation attraction fund.

“We are actively pursuing more direct flights in and out of Cairns,” she said.

At the opening of Crystalbro­ok’s third hotel, Flynn, in Cairns next year, Ms Palaszczuk said Mr Aboud would “be looking down the track at the right time to go ahead with Port Douglas”.

While Ms Palaszczuk remained tight-lipped about progress on the Cairns Global

Tourism Hub, her Tourism Minister Kate Jones announced plans to “move forward” with negotiatio­ns with Star on a second Gold Coast casino licence.

“We have the endorsemen­t from the Gold Coast to move forward with a multi-billion dollar investment in tourism infrastruc­ture,” Ms Jones said.

The talks come as a survey by the Global Tourism Hub Advisory Panel revealed 56 per cent of Gold Coast residents surveyed support a global tourism hub.

Tourism Tropical North Queensland boss Mark Olsen said investment ahead of the Port Douglas superyacht marina project needed to focus on providing accommodat­ion for “high-value” travellers.

“We know the impact that high quality new accommodat­ion adds to the appeal of the destinatio­n,” he said.

But Mr Olsen was not surprised the marina project had been put on the back burner.

“Investors need to ensure their investment­s make sense and that the timing aligns with the market so it was not surprising to hear the GA Group is reviewing timing,” he said.

A Cairns Airport spokeswoma­n said the organisati­on felt supported by the State Government in attracting new flights to the Far North through the Attracting Aviation Investment Fund.

“The Airport would support establishm­ent of Middle Eastern services to and from Cairns as they would provide connection­s to many European cities,” the spokeswoma­n told the Cairns Post.

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