Investor Updates
Chinese investor expands Australian tourism portfolio
26 August 2013
Dr Benny Wu, the owner of Hong Kong-based Chang Yuang Group, has added to his hotel portfolio in Australia with his latest acquisition in tropical far north Queensland.
The multi-millionaire recently bought the 150-room Acacia Court Hotel in Cairns with plans to refurbish and upgrade the existing hotel and facilities. Dr Wu’s purchase of the 4450 square-metre property, his second Queensland hotel acquisition in less than a year, signals confidence in Australia’s tourism industry.
Less than a year ago, Dr Wu bought the Double Island Boutique Resort just offshore from Palm Cove, Queensland. He reportedly paid A$5.8 million for the resort and is investing a further A$10 million to build eco-tourism facilities on the island.
His Chang Yuang Group, which also sells iron ore and steel products through an associated company, owns the tourism portfolio. The Queensland Government welcomed Dr Wu’s investment. Nearly 280,000 Chinese travellers visited Queensland in the year to March 2013, making China the state’s second largest source of visitors.
Dr Wu, who has a long relationship with the Australian Trade Commission (Austrade) and the Queensland Government, was one of the first Chinese investors to see the potential in Australia’s tourism infrastructure as a result of rapid growth in the number of visitors from China.
Under Australia’s Tourism 2020 campaign, the industry has set a goal of doubling annual overnight spending by the end of the decade to between A$115 billion and A$140 billion.
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