Booming Hervey Bay
PRESS RELEASE 28 JUNE 2007
Hervey Bay leads the way in 2006 Census. The Hervey Bay Local Government Area has grown by almost 25% from the 2001 Census to the 2006 Census, leading all other regional LGAs in Australia.
| Fastest growing non capital city Local Government Areas in Australia | % growth 2001 to 2006 Census |
Position |
| Hervey Bay Qld |
24.9% |
1 |
| Caloundra Qld |
20.1% |
2 |
| Mandurah WA |
19.9% |
3 |
| Caboolture Qld |
18% |
4 |
| Pine Rivers Qld |
17.9% |
5 |
| Rockingham WA |
17.6% |
6 |
| Maroochy Qld |
17.4% |
7 |
| Thuringowa Qld |
16.5% |
8 |
| The Gold Coast Qld |
16% |
9 |
| Busselton |
15.6% |
10 |
Information compiled by Rick Osborn, author “the Penguin Guide to Retirement Hotspots”
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Deputy Premier, Treasurer and Minister for Infrastructure Press Release.
The Honourable Anna Bligh 04/05/2007
NEW 200 BERTH MARINA FOR URANGAN HARBOUR
Joint statement Urangan Boat Harbour: Two major development companies have been short-listed to submit bids for the redevelopment of the Urangan Boat Harbour, Acting Premier Infrastructure Minister Anna Bligh announced today.Ms Bligh said Meridien Marinas and the Seymour/Watpac group would compete for the chance to redevelop the boat harbour, one of the most significant tourism developments on the Queensland coastline.“This exciting development will provide a year-round tourist magnet for the entire Wide Bay region,” Ms Bligh said. “It will complement Hervey Bay’s world-famous whale watching industry and be the new gateway to the Great Sandy Straits.“And it will generate hundreds of jobs during the two-year construction phase.”Member for Hervey Bay Andrew McNamara said: “The development will bring great benefits to Hervey Bay and put Urangan on the map for international tourists.” Binding bid documentation will be forwarded to the short-listed companies early next week. Construction could start as early as 2009 and be completed by 2011.The Meridien Group has undertaken a range of residential subdivisions, apartments and retail developments. Between them, the Seymour/ Watpac consortium has undertaken the full range of residential, tourism, commercial and Government developments.Ms Bligh said the redevelopment would include:• An expansion of the harbour to the south of the breakwater to incorporate a 200-berth marina.
• A major upgrade of Miller St to create a boulevard entrance to Urangan Boat Harbour.
• A tourism development opportunity utilising existing car par and caravan park lots.
• Significantly enhanced public car parking.
• Creation of a green corridor with walking/cycle tracks along Charlton Esplanade that will connect the harbour with the foreshores and Urangan pier.
• A boardwalk around the inner boat harbour, connecting the new development with existing facilities, including the Hervey Bay Boat Club, boat ramps and car trailer parks.Media contact: Deputy Premier’s Office, 3224 6900
————————————————————————————————————— HERVEY BAY AIRPORT NEWS
The Fraser Coast Airport at Hervey Bay has exceeded 200,000 passenger movements during 2006/07 which is an increase of more than 25% over the previous twelve months. Both Virgin Blue and Jetstar services from Sydney are proving extremely popular and the reintroduction of QantasLink services from Brisbane has been extremely successful.QANTASLINK Announces Capacity Increase for QLD QantasLink announced increases to its Queensland services that will deliver more than 20 extra flights and 1500 additional seats per week from October 2007.For Hervey Bay this means that there will be four new flights per week between Brisbane & Hervey Bay, including an upgrade of three key services per week to larger 50 seat Dash 8 Q300 aircraft, representing a 17 per cent increase incapacity and bringing the total number of weekly services to 40, phased in from October onwards. Qantas expect that all the new services will be in place by the 29th of October 2007.
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FRASER ISLAND VOTED NUMBER 2 IN WORLD’S BEST AWARDS Readers of the Travel + Leisure publication have chosen Fraser Island as their number two favourite island destination in Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific.Travel + Leisure readers rated the islands on natural attractions, activities/sights, restaurants/food, people and value. Just beaten into the top spot by the Great Barrier Reef Islands, Fraser Island was not among the top-ranked in this category of last year’s World’s Best Awards. ————————————————————————————————————– INTERNATIONAL TOURISTS SPEND BIG ON THE FRASER COAST
International visitors spent $68 million in the Fraser Coast last year, a testament to the importance of tourism to the regional economy, according to the Australian Tourism Export Council.Matthew Hingerty, Managing Director of the Australian Tourism Export Council, said the latest Tourism Research Australia figures revealed that international visitors spend more than $3.5 billion across all of Queensland in 2006 - up 10.3 percent from the previous year.
Mr Hingerty said the best performing regions in terms of percentage growth included the Fraser Coast whose spending has increased by 30% to $68 million, second only to Brisbane which grew by 31%.
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