20 Jul 2015
Words
Brooke Kelly
Regional Snapshot - Launceston, Tasmania
WE SHINE A SPOTLIGHT ON KEY REGIONS TO REVEAL WHAT IS DRIVING TOURISM AND ACCOMMODATION INDUSTRY GROWTH
Gateway to Tasmania
Australia’s third oldest city, Launceston is a major gateway to our island state. A recent study by Tourism Research Australia identified the ‘core appeals’ that motivate people to visit Tassie: wilderness and nature, food, wine and produce, heritage and history, arts and culture. In and around Launceston, all are found in rich abundance.
Launceston is noted as having one of the most intact early cityscapes in Australia. Its preserved colonial and Victorian buildings, and classically beautiful parks and gardens give it a wonderful historic character.
Visitors staying in town can walk easily to myriad heritage attractions, to vibrant café and shopping precincts, Boags Brewery and Launceston Seaport. They stroll to Aurora Stadium, home of AFL in Tasmania, to Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery, and The Design Centre, Australia’s only museum collection of contemporary wood design.
Amazing too that such a spectacular natural gem as Cataract Gorge is within walking distance. Likewise picturesque City Park, which hosts Festivale and Symphony under the Stars, and the popular Harvest Launceston Farmers’ Market.
Tasmania’s North has immense appeal to a range of visitors, from couples seeking a romantic getaway to families and adventure-seekers. And because of its accessibility, the region is also a prime weekend destination for travellers from Melbourne and Sydney.
It is the perfect base from which to explore a region of outstanding diversity and wonder. Graze the epicurean delights and wineries of the Tamar Valley, cruise the Tamar River, and tee off at Barnbougle Links and Lost Farm golf courses. Visit the largest lavender farm in the world, Bridestowe Lavender Farm, and Ben Lomond National Park. Or venture a little further to find amazing adventures and vast unspoilt wilderness beauty.
A Great Business Move
Launceston-Tamar Valley – the heart of Tasmania – presents an extremely attractive business and investment proposition. It offers a refreshingly relaxed pace, yet has all the sophistication and facilities of a metropolitan city. Business operating costs are relatively inexpensive, and the workforce highly productive and loyal.
ICT infrastructure is well-advanced and there is a strong learning culture, encouraged by high quality education institutions, including the University of Tasmania campus catering to over 3,600 students. Launceston is also a vibrant retail centre, and the tourism, education, medical and business service hub for Northern Tasmania.
Add to this its truly enviable lifestyle – a comfortable climate not unlike that in the south of France, a vibrant events calendar, and outstanding food and wine – and you can’t go wrong.
Greater Launceston has a population of 107,000, and proudly claims to be located in the safest region in the safest state in Australia. It is a city of innovation and enterprise, with the tremendous advantage of boasting excellent transport infrastructure. Here you enjoy close proximity to Melbourne (50 minute direct flight) and Sydney (less than two hours direct) and are less than a three-hour drive from any part of the Tasmania.
Launceston Airport welcomes 26 flights per day by Qantas, Jetstar and Virgin Blue to and from the interstate capitals. The airport achieved 5% passenger growth in 2013-14, boosting total passengers to a record 1.28 million and outperforming the national domestic air travel trend.
Spirit of Tasmania operates two ships sailing between Melbourne and Devonport (just over an hour’s drive from Launceston City), departing both locations most nights.
Tourism Growth
A record number of visitors spent $1.5 billion in Tasmania in 2013, putting the state on track to boost visitor numbers to 1.5 million by 2020 and increase visitor spending to $2 billion. Tourism in Tasmania directly and indirectly contributes about $2.4 billion or 9.8% to Gross State Product (GSP), the highest contribution level in the country.
Key results of the Tasmanian Visitor Survey (Tourism Tasmania), for the year ending Sept 2014:
- Total number of visitors: 1.0627 million - up 6%
- Total nights spent by visitors in the state: 9.35 million - up 8%
- Visitor expenditure: $1.74 billion - up 15%
- Holiday spend: $1.1 billion - up 25%
- Interstate visitors: 914,700 - up 3%
- Overnight visitors: 1,039,500 - up 6%
- Visitors to the Northern Region: 561,500 - up 6%
Launceston is a vital Tasmanian destination, and a major economic driver for the tourism sector in the state. Tourism contributes more than $320 million annually to the city’s economy, and close to $500 million per annum to the Northern Tasmania Region.
While many Launceston visitors come to the city by car or coach as part of a touring holiday, the region is clearly a strong destination in its own right. Launceston airport accounted for 31% of all air visitors to Tasmania in the year ending March 2014.
Improved conditions for leisure travel, both inbound and domestic, are underwriting robust demand growth across Australia. According to the Deloitte Access Economics Tourism and Hotel Market Outlook, at a national level, demand will grow at nearly twice the pace of accommodation supply over the next few years, propelling occupancy rates higher.
While Deloitte’s study looked specifically at Tasmania’s capital, Hobart, the findings are indicative of the positive trend. “2013 saw average room rates and the key indicator of RevPAR grow faster than long term averages,” the report said. In Hobart, Deloitte found average occupancies grew 3.7% in 2013, and room rates 4.6%, the fastest rate of any capital city other than Darwin.
Central to Greatest Growth Market
Launceston is ideally positioned to capitalise on the fast emerging trend towards experiential and lifestyle tourism, with a particularly strong focus on food and wine, and the journey from paddock to plate.
Culinary tourism, built around visitors’ enjoyment of food and wine, exploration of regional environments, and the experience of cultural, nature-based and lifestyle activities, is one of tourism’s greatest growth market segments.
Just how compelling culinary attractions can be as a reason for visitation is highlighted by Tourism Australia’s recent $10 million “Restaurant Australia” campaign, promoting the idea of Australia being the world’s ‘greatest restaurant’. Their research confirms ‘food and wine’ to be a key factor in holiday decision-making, in fact the most important emotive trigger in destination choice, just ahead of world-class beauty.
The benefits set to flow from this global phenomenon cannot be underestimated. Australia, and Tasmania in particular, are gaining reputations as revered culinary destinations in their own right.
The potential of the tourism sector to grow more strongly as a pillar of the Tasmanian economy is clearly backed by the level of Government attention and support it receives. In addition to significant investment in tourism infrastructure development, an extra $16 million p.a. in tourism marketing funding was budgeted in 2014 to capitalise on the current momentum and drive further growth in visitation.
Local Buyer Secures The Sebel Launceston
A local buyer outbid national and international contenders to secure The Sebel Launceston 4.5-star CBD apartment hotel in a deal worth close to $10 million, negotiated by Resort Brokers Australia.
Described as the city’s finest hotel, The Sebel Launceston was sold to the undisclosed local investor by its original developer and owner of nine years, Tasmanian Boutique Hotels Pty Ltd.
Resort Brokers Australia national sales manager Trudy Crooks says the hotel listing stirred up “plenty of excitement”, attracting 30 genuine enquiries.
“Within two weeks of listing, seven offers were lodged with us at the asking price of just under $10 million, including from Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and Singapore. In the end, it was a Tasmanian buyer who paid the list price for both components in a deal which, remarkably, took just 10 weeks from listing to settlement.”
Resort Brokers Australia was appointed to handle the campaign because of its expertise in splitting properties into two components, freehold investment and lease, achieving a much higher total value than a sale in one line.
The sale of the freehold land and buildings component showed a 9 per cent return while the leasehold sold on a 26 per cent return, she said.
The Sebel Launceston features 49 self-contained one and two bedroom suites, the popular Market Square Restaurant, two dedicated conference venues, a gymnasium, courtyard and large reception and lounge with open fire.
The hotel, Accor’s flagship address in Tasmania, will continue to operate as part of the growing Sebel portfolio, the group’s upscale apartment hotel brand.
