Chinese buy of Lindeman Island may start a wave
A Chinese-born Australian mining investor has paid AUD12 million to buy struggling Lindeman Island in the Whitsundays.
The buyer’s family company runs one of China’s largest advertising enterprises, the Australian newspaper has reported, adding that the AUD12 million sale “signals the strength of Chinese investment interest in Australian tourism”.
The Gold Coast’s opulent Palazzo Versace hotel is also expected to attract prospective buyers from Asia.
Lindeman Island’s sale to the Australian offshoot of Chinese advertising and media group White Horse was reported by ABC News. The island resort was shut down by its previous owners Club Med in January due to poor visitor numbers.
Tourism Whitsundays head Peter O’Reilly told the broadcaster Lindeman Island’s market value had fallen by about AUD8 million, a significant drop in the price paid by the resort’s previous owners in 1992.
He said the sale was “wonderful news for this region”.
The Australian quoted William Han, chairman of White Horse Australia and a non-executive director of Western Australia’s Padbury Mining, saying he would “work hard” to revive the island’s fortunes.
White Horse was now looking at how best to reposition Lindeman as an attractive tourist destination, he said.
The Australian quoted McVay Real Estate chairman Dan McVay, who is negotiating the sale of the five-star, 200-room, 72-condominium Palazzo Versace, as saying he suspected the eventual buyer would be from Asia.
Inquiries were predominantly from Asia “particularly China,” McVay said.
Written by : Peter Needham
