LEADING Brisbane tourism players are confident that Australia’s third-largest city has sufficient hotel inventory to meet rising inbound and event numbers, including the 7,000 delegates and media due to attend the G20 Summit in November 2014.
To spur hotel development, Brisbane City Council has introduced a moratorium on infrastructure charges to encourage investment in four- and five-star hotels, while construction of the 180-suite Emporium Hotel Brisbane in the South Bank convention precinct is set to begin.
Brisbane Lord Mayor, Graham Quirk, said hotel development was a priority for Brisbane and that he was working together with Brisbane Marketing, Brisbane City Council and the state government to encourage investment in the hotel sector.
“Hotel investment is a key focus for the city; this was reflected in my recent Economic Development Plan. Brisbane is gearing up to host all delegates and media for the G20 Summit 2014 and I’m confident we will be able to comfortably accommodate everyone,” he said.
Quirk added: “(In September), SilverNeedle Hospitality announced it would refurbish and extend the Brisbane Chifley Hotel, converting it from a 150-room to a 300-room hotel by 2014 (TTG Asia e-Daily, September 20, 2012).”
Pointing to the successful hosting of the International Geological Congress for 6,012 delegates in August, Bob O’Keeffe, general manager, Brisbane Convention & Exhibition Centre, said hotels in the city were well equipped to cater for mega events such as the G20 Summit and strong conference bookings over the next few years.
“We know which events we’ve gained from (the closure of) Sydney (Convention & Exhibition Centre), and our business has grown from 70-80 events a year to 130-plus,” he said, adding that a G20 task force had selected six to eight hotels for delegates and apartment-style accommodation for the 2,000-plus media contingent.
