Investors turn to regional locations for tourism opportunities after being priced out of major cities
Singaporean group Well Smart Investment Holdings has acquired the Club Crocodile Resort in Airlie Beach, marking its third hotel purchase in Australia.
The sale was brokered by CBRE Hotels National Director Wayne Bunz and CBRE Hotels Negotiator Hayley Manvell, in conjunction with PRD Airlie Beach.
Well Smart also owns the Mantra Terrace Hotel in Brisbane (formerly the Diamant Hotel Brisbane) and the Ibis Budget Hotel Melbourne.
The iconic Club Crocodile hotel is under contract and is due to settle in the coming months, with Well Smart planning to undertake a major refurbishment and rebranding programme.
This 3.5 star resort features 161 rooms on a large freehold site close to the beachfront and Abell Point Marina.
CBRE Hotels’ Ms Manvell said; “The new owners will benefit from record tourist arrivals into the region, which is set to be further boosted with the new international airport due to open later this year. The leisure markets are heating up in 2016 and reaping the benefits of increased tourist volumes driven by a weak dollar and lower airfares.”
Acting on behalf of the same vendor, CBRE Hotels is also currently marketing Long Island Resort. The 172 room resort is located on 20 acres of land in the heart of the Whitsunday Islands and Great Barrier Reef.
The currently closed resort features fully developed infrastructure and mainland power, offers substantial development potential and is a major branding opportunity. Long Island Resort provides an outstanding opportunity for a buyer to acquire the property for substantially below replacement cost.
Mr Bunz said; “Leisure markets have been the best performing markets so far in 2016 including Cairns, Gold Coast, Hobart and the Whitsunday region and this strong performance is set to continue with favourable market conditions for the local tourism market. Investors are looking further afield and are more than ever willing to look at entering both key regional and leisure markets to capitalise on their future growth potential.”
Mr Bunz added; “Over the next six months we can expect to see further divergence between the traditional leisure destinations and that of corporate and mining dependent areas, as tourism replaces resource centric areas for investment capital nationally.“
He noted that the relatively weak Australian dollar was making it cheaper for international tourists to visit the region and conversely making international travel less affordable for Australians, with rising fears over the world economy also making Australians less inclined to take expensive overseas holidays.
“These factors, coupled with minimal supply increases, will continue to drive hotel performance in Australia’s leisure destinations,” Mr Bunz said.
Airlie Beach and Whitsunday resorts have recently been boasting maximum occupancy levels, which have been backed up by the latest statistics released by Tourism Research Australia (TRA), which showed a strong upward growth in international visitor numbers. A total of 215,000 overseas visitors arrived to the region from the year ending March 2016, an increase of 5.1% from the previous reporting period.
The region's top international market, the United Kingdom, remained consistent at 48,000 visitors while Germany recorded 33,000 visitors, a 9.2% increase. North America showed significant increases with the USA recording growth of 44.5% to 21,000 visitors and Canada up by 6.2% to 11,000 visitors. Chinese visitor numbers have also continued to increase exponentially with the latest statistics showing a 74.7% increase to over 16,000 people.
Singaporean group Well Smart Investment Holdings has acquired the Club Crocodile Resort in Airlie Beach, marking its third hotel purchase in Australia.
The sale was brokered by CBRE Hotels National Director Wayne Bunz and CBRE Hotels Negotiator Hayley Manvell, in conjunction with PRD Airlie Beach.
Well Smart also owns the Mantra Terrace Hotel in Brisbane (formerly the Diamant Hotel Brisbane) and the Ibis Budget Hotel Melbourne.
The iconic Club Crocodile hotel is under contract and is due to settle in the coming months, with Well Smart planning to undertake a major refurbishment and rebranding programme.
This 3.5 star resort features 161 rooms on a large freehold site close to the beachfront and Abell Point Marina.
CBRE Hotels’ Ms Manvell said; “The new owners will benefit from record tourist arrivals into the region, which is set to be further boosted with the new international airport due to open later this year. The leisure markets are heating up in 2016 and reaping the benefits of increased tourist volumes driven by a weak dollar and lower airfares.”
Acting on behalf of the same vendor, CBRE Hotels is also currently marketing Long Island Resort. The 172 room resort is located on 20 acres of land in the heart of the Whitsunday Islands and Great Barrier Reef.
The currently closed resort features fully developed infrastructure and mainland power, offers substantial development potential and is a major branding opportunity. Long Island Resort provides an outstanding opportunity for a buyer to acquire the property for substantially below replacement cost.
Mr Bunz said; “Leisure markets have been the best performing markets so far in 2016 including Cairns, Gold Coast, Hobart and the Whitsunday region and this strong performance is set to continue with favourable market conditions for the local tourism market. Investors are looking further afield and are more than ever willing to look at entering both key regional and leisure markets to capitalise on their future growth potential.”
Mr Bunz added; “Over the next six months we can expect to see further divergence between the traditional leisure destinations and that of corporate and mining dependent areas, as tourism replaces resource centric areas for investment capital nationally.“
He noted that the relatively weak Australian dollar was making it cheaper for international tourists to visit the region and conversely making international travel less affordable for Australians, with rising fears over the world economy also making Australians less inclined to take expensive overseas holidays.
“These factors, coupled with minimal supply increases, will continue to drive hotel performance in Australia’s leisure destinations,” Mr Bunz said.
Airlie Beach and Whitsunday resorts have recently been boasting maximum occupancy levels, which have been backed up by the latest statistics released by Tourism Research Australia (TRA), which showed a strong upward growth in international visitor numbers. A total of 215,000 overseas visitors arrived to the region from the year ending March 2016, an increase of 5.1% from the previous reporting period.
The region's top international market, the United Kingdom, remained consistent at 48,000 visitors while Germany recorded 33,000 visitors, a 9.2% increase. North America showed significant increases with the USA recording growth of 44.5% to 21,000 visitors and Canada up by 6.2% to 11,000 visitors. Chinese visitor numbers have also continued to increase exponentially with the latest statistics showing a 74.7% increase to over 16,000 people.
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CBRE Group, Inc. (NYSE:CBG), a Fortune 500 and S&P 500 company headquartered in Los Angeles, is the world’s largest commercial real estate services and investment firm (in terms of 2015 revenue). The Company has more than 70,000 employees (excluding affiliates), and serves real estate owners, investors and occupiers through more than 400 offices (excluding affiliates) worldwide. CBRE offers strategic advice and execution for property sales and leasing; corporate services; property, facilities and project management; mortgage banking; appraisal and valuation; development services; investment management; and research and consulting. Please visit our website at www.cbre.com.
ABOUT CBRE GROUP, INC.
CBRE Group, Inc. (NYSE:CBG), a Fortune 500 and S&P 500 company headquartered in Los Angeles, is the world’s largest commercial real estate services and investment firm (in terms of 2015 revenue). The Company has more than 70,000 employees (excluding affiliates), and serves real estate owners, investors and occupiers through more than 400 offices (excluding affiliates) worldwide. CBRE offers strategic advice and execution for property sales and leasing; corporate services; property, facilities and project management; mortgage banking; appraisal and valuation; development services; investment management; and research and consulting. Please visit our website at www.cbre.com.
