Since 2017, Brisbane has experienced significant growth in its hotel industry, with 12 new hotels and 2466 rooms opening in central Brisbane and its fringe suburbs. The city’s hotel room numbers have grown by 7 percent annually, with over 7 million people visiting Brisbane in 2023. While the addition of new hotels like The Calile Hotel, W Brisbane, Hotel X, and the Westin have helped meet the increased demand, there is a need for more hotel rooms with the upcoming Brisbane 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games. The Games events will be spread statewide, including regional cities like Cairns, Townsville, and the Sunshine Coast.
Lessons learned from the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast have highlighted the importance of sufficient accommodation options for major sporting events. The Games saw high occupancy rates in hotels, apartments, homestays, Airbnb, camping, and tourist parks, with $75 million spent on accommodation. The upcoming 2032 Games will feature venues across Brisbane, Gold Coast, Sunshine Coast, and North Queensland, requiring a comprehensive approach to accommodation planning. The Queensland Tourism Industry Council has suggested repurposing under-used office blocks in Brisbane as hotels to meet the expected demand.
Developers are already identifying potential hotel locations in regional and North Queensland in preparation for the Brisbane 2032 Olympics and Paralympics. Ghassan Aboud’s Crystalbrook Collection Group has invested over half a billion dollars in two new hotels and one refurbished hotel in Cairns, in addition to properties in Brisbane, Sydney, and regional areas. The company’s expansion highlights the growing interest in accommodation development in anticipation of the Games. Discussions between Queensland’s Sports and Tourism Minister Michael Healy and lord mayor Adrian Schrinner are currently underway to research hotel planning for the event, with a focus on providing adequate accommodation options.
The strategy employed by previous Brisbane Lord Mayor Graham Quirk to incentivize hotel development in preparation for major events, such as the 2014 G20 conference and the 2018 Commonwealth Games, resulted in the addition of 4030 hotel rooms in the city. Developers were able to benefit from infrastructure fee reductions totaling $3.1 million during this period. However, discussions regarding incentives like infrastructure fee reductions have not yet been discussed in the planning for the Brisbane 2032 Olympics and Paralympics. The emphasis is on ensuring that a wide range of accommodation options are available in various locations across Queensland to accommodate the influx of visitors expected for the Games.
With the significant growth in Brisbane’s hotel industry since 2017, the city has seen the addition of several high-profile hotels that have helped meet the increasing demand for accommodation. The upcoming Brisbane 2032 Olympics and Paralympics will require a collaborative effort between various regions in Queensland to ensure sufficient hotel rooms are available for the influx of visitors. Developers are already identifying potential hotel locations in regional and North Queensland, signaling a proactive approach to meeting the anticipated demand. The experience gained from past major events, such as the 2018 Commonwealth Games, will inform the planning process for the upcoming Games, with a focus on providing diverse and accessible accommodation options for guests.
