$50m expected for two Fraser Island resorts

Tourism investors or operators can buy more than 90% of picturesque Fraser Island’s accommodation in one hit, with two resorts put up for sale as part of a larger package.

The Kingfisher Bay Resort and Eurong Beach Resort are being sold with a price tag of $50 million, which also includes tourism operations Fraser Explorer Tours and Fraser Island Ferries.

The resorts make up almost the entire accommodation offering on the island, which attracts 300,000 visitors every year.

Colliers International’s Neil Scanlan and Gus Moors, who are marketing the property, say the two resorts have an almost completely captive audience, with little or no chance of other operators staking a claim on the island.

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“Fraser Island was World Heritage Listed by UNESCO in 1992. Less than 1% of the island is freehold or leasehold land, so new development options are very limited,” Scanlan says.

“Considering the two resorts account for over 90% of commercial accommodation options on Fraser Island, entry by competitors is impossible.”

The resorts and facilities were built 25 years ago by Japanese Group Cosmos Initia, which still owns the properties and is now offering them for sale.

The Kingfisher Bay Resort on Fraser Island. Picture: Supplied.

The four-star Kingfisher Bay Resort is spread over 64ha, including 14.62ha of vacant residential development land, which already has approvals for medium and low density developments.

Moors says the three-star Eurong Beach Resort, which occupies 3.54ha of land on the eastern side of the island, also has redevelopment potential.

Considering the two resorts account for over 90% of commercial accommodation options on Fraser Island, entry by competitors is impossible

“There is an opportunity to develop 1.4ha of beachfront land at Eurong Beach Resort. Development options are very flexible and could include a mixed-use tavern/hotel, new hotel or strata-titled apartment development,” he says.

The resorts and associated businesses are being sold as the Kingfisher Bay Resort Group, which drew revenue of more than $55 million in 2016.

Fraser Explorer Tours is the island’s largest tour operator and comprises 25 4WD buses. Fraser Island Ferries runs three vessels between the island and River Heads on the mainland.

The properties and businesses are to be sold via expressions of interest, which close on March 23.