Too many regulations, not enough hotels

Fresh off his appointment to Tourism Minister, Richard Colbeck has called for less hoop jumping when it comes to building hotels.

As one of the biggest growth sectors in Australia, we need a stack of new hotels, and fast, but planning hurdles are holding things up and raising the cost of new hotel developments vital to the surging tourism sector.

According to a report released today by Colbeck, along with Trade and Investment Minister Andrew Robb, the ‘Hotel Development Regulations in Australia’ report identifies opportunities to improve planning and environmental approval processes across all states and territories, including in regional areas.

The report finds overly complex planning regulations cause significant delays and uncertainty for hotel developments, and recommends that federal, state, territory and local governments work together to promote simplicity, transparency and predictability in all state and territory jurisdictions.

“Tourism is one of our major growth sectors, with international visitor arrivals reaching a new record of seven million in the year to March 2015,” Colbeck said.

“We need new hotels to accommodate an ever increasing number of visitors but too often such developments are slowed by unnecessary red tape.

“Working across all levels of government to make our regulatory environment more investment-friendly will have broader benefits outside tourism. I am confident our ongoing reform process can achieve this.”

Robb said the sector was crucial to jobs and growth and that delivering on new investment opportunities was needed to boost the quality and supply of hotel rooms.

“The Australian, state and territory governments have been successful in attracting a healthy pipeline of hotel investment commitments in our capital cities. Now it is time for us to deliver on that pipeline,” Robb said.

Tourism employs approximately one million people throughout Australia and is one of Australia’s most important services exports, responsible for an injection of $107 billion dollars into the visitor economy in the year ending March 2015.

Nine specific report recommendations focus on measures aimed at reducing undue cost and risk, providing stronger coordination within government and creating more responsive conditions for investment.

Recommendations include providing better guidance information for new and international investors, adopting a flexible approach to design requirements, making ‘fast tracked’ DA processes available for low risk projects and putting greater emphasis on pre-approval engagement and case management.

Image: Gold Coast Bulletin

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