Apparently on the weekend you couldn’t get a motel room in Rockhampton. Between the visiting rowing and tennis teams, the Browne Park rodeo, plus the Food and Wine Festival; staying at Yeppoon and travelling to Rockhampton was for some their only accommodation option.
You might draw from this that Rockhampton’s motel industry is buoyant. But when you see the old Fountain Towers (now Rockhampton Plaza) on Gladstone Road, Bridge Motor Inn beside the new bridge and the less than glamorous condition of some of the motels on the southern entrance into Rockhampton you wonder how good really is the local accommodation industry.
For multi-storey complexes like Fountain Towers to appear closed for such a long time is puzzling to one not in the industry. Have the new motels just moved business away from the old? If so, what becomes of the old motels – is, or does Scottie Cam have the answer?
The cost of major renovations with the possibility of a ring road around Rockhampton may make financiers hesitant. Does Rockhampton have the demand for 7 stories of accommodation converted into office space? What needs to change for the landlords of rather prime property sites to be encouraged to either rejuvenate or pull down their buildings and re-build?
Consistent business (cash flow) would be the obvious response. An NRL team might provide that. But that doesn’t appear to be on everyone’s wish (or spoken about) list anymore! I wonder if moving a government department head office from Brisbane is still on the agenda, along with re-locating 200 white collar Aurizon employees!
More high profile and/or high participation events appears to be the more likely solution. But there are risks involved, as well as volunteer wear out to consider. What Rockhampton really needs for consistent, high occupancy at all our motels is to become an international tourist destination.
As some of you may laughingly be saying, what has Rockhampton got to attract international tourists, think of what Australia’s international image is – beaches (including the Great Barrier Reef) and outback (including Uluru). Rockhampton could be internationally promoted as the gateway to both. Fly direct to Australia’s Beef Capital, Rockhampton, the Gateway to Australia’s famous outback and the wonders of the southern Great Barrier Reef.
Becoming an international tourist destination is not an overnight say it and be it strategy. It is a long-term goal. One that requires substantial on-going investment in marketing and infrastructure. There are strong arguments to be part of a group campaign, like the Southern Great Barrier Reef, to attract tourists (domestic and international), pooling resources and one’s strengths (tourist assets) with other centre’s. However, Rockhampton has an international size airport, as the Beef Capital and host city for Beef Australia it has credible ties with the Outback to legitimately claim to be the Gateway and one can easily identify on a map where it is, right on the tropic of Capricorn.
Granted, it is a bold ambition to become an international tourist destination, but if all 3 levels of government committed to pursuing this goal, like Townsville’s City Deal, would not the landlords of some of our accommodation places be more inclined to improve their properties. Is the idea that farfetched that you risk being ridiculed for daring to publicly declare making Rockhampton an international tourist destination was a goal?
Yes, a lot of work and money would be required and it will take time, but if you have a clear goal to work towards then you can plan and chart the progress, as opposed to aimlessly treading water susceptible and reliant on the whims of others.