Echo's massive Queens Wharf integrated resort development would contribute 3 per cent of Brisbane's gross regional product when it became fully operational, a leading economist has said.
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Queensland Investment Corporation chief economist Matthew Peter told a business lunch in Brisbane on Thursday that the economic impact of the Queens Wharf development could not be overstated.
Dr Peter said QIC modelling showed the 2000 jobs generated during the Queens Wharf construction stage and the 8000 during the operational phase would have about a 40-to-50 per cent flow-on effect to the wider Brisbane economy.
"It's a huge project in the operational phase and it's going to have flow-on effects and the final net increase in jobs is going to be more like 11,500 jobs," he said, although he later said it could be as many as 12,000.
"So for every 10 jobs the tourist sector is generating, it's going to generate probably five jobs, four jobs, outside of that in various industries.
"What that's going to do is lift consumer spending, lift consumer incomes."
With an estimated 1.4 million tourists, helped along by Brisbane Airport's parallel runway completion in 2020, Dr Peter said the Queens Wharf development would account for 3 per cent of the Brisbane GRP.
State Development Minister Anthony Lynham said the construction of Queens Wharf could not come at a better time, with the construction phase of Queensland's LNG mining projects coming to an end.
"We have some of the most highly skilled construction workers out there in close proximity to Brisbane – some commuting from Brisbane or the Gold Coast – and this is just ripe for those construction workers to work at (Queens Wharf)," he said.
"…They are the most talented construction workers the world has got in very specific areas and it doesn't take much for a worker doing difficult work in the LNG industry to convert his skills into something like construction work here in Brisbane."
Dr Peter agreed with that assessment.
"The great thing about this project is that you've got the construction phase kicking in at a time when we really need it," he said.
"It will help absorb the construction workers, in particular, being released from the mining sector and it helps transition from that slow-down in the mining boom."
Dr Peter said it there would not be a repeat of the situation experienced in regional centres devastated by the loss of mining construction jobs.
"Our modelling shows that isn't going to happen in the operational phase of this project, largely because the beauty of tourism is that it's very labour-intensive," he said.
"If you go to build a whole lot of hotels and cafes, you'll have people who are going to live in the place to actually run them, so that radiates the good use of the tourism development to the rest of the economy in the operational phase.
"We actually keep people here."
Dr Peter said QIC modelling estimated up to $4.8 billion a year to be added to the local economy during the five-year construction phase.
Once Queens Wharf was up and running, Dr Peter said it was expected to add about $3 billion a year to the economy.
"It's huge for Brisbane," he said.
Echo chief executive Matt Bekier said the development was "unashamedly focused on international tourism", but needed to appeal to the people of Brisbane.
"What we needed to compete on was the authenticity of the proposition," he said.
"One of the things that came out of the market research very compellingly was that tourists do not want to live in a ghetto, no matter how luxurious it is.
"Part of the proposition really is an authentic experience and that basically means the locals have to like it and have to be there as well."
