Crown Limited is further investing in Perth with the development of a new six star, luxury hotel to be known as Crown Towers Perth. The US$ 575 million (A$568 million) Crown Towers project would help turning Perth into a gambling destination, particularly to capture the Chinese market.
PERTH- The 500-room new luxury hotel from Crown Entertainment will add to the suite of hotel accommodation at Burswood Entertainment Complex and will be a big boost to the local economy.
The development of the new hotel will take Crown Limited’s investment in the Burswood complex, to over US$1.3 billion dollars since acquisition in 2004.
Upon completion, Crown Towers Perth will be the largest hotel in Perth and will take hotel room capacity at Burswood to nearly 1,200 rooms. Construction is expected to commence in early 2013 and the hotel, which will take approximately three years to complete, will comprise 500 rooms and include restaurants, bars, resort and convention facilities.
The new hotel comes at a time when Perth and Western Australia are in desperate need of additional luxury hotel and short term accommodation to satisfy the demands of business travellers and tourists and will put Perth firmly back on the map for leisure travellers seeking exclusive, resort-style experiences.
The hotel will be located on land currently owned by Burswood as well as land to be acquired from the State, adjacent to the existing complex and currently part of the golf course, and provision will be made for the future development of serviced apartments and, potentially, mixed and retail facilities.
Since acquiring Burswood, Crown Limited has committed to modernising and expanding the facilities at the complex to bring it up to the standard of a world class integrated resort capable of competing in an expanding and increasingly competitive global entertainment and tourism market.
The developments to date have taken the form of new internationally acclaimed restaurants, such as Rockpool Bar & Grill and Nobu, upgraded accommodation to five and six star standard in and adjacent to Crown Metropol Perth (previously the InterContinental hotel), expansive outdoor resort swimming pool taking advantage of Perth’s natural environment and climate, expanded conference and meeting facilities and an expanded and modernised casino and accompanying food and beverage outlets to meet world standards.
Since 2004, the number of people employed at the resort has grown from 2,400 to over 5,200 with a total annual wages bill of over $310 million making the resort the State’s largest single-site private sector employer.
Upon completion, the hotel and accompanying facilities are expected to provide employment for over 500 people and create an additional 700 construction and construction related jobs over the three year build.
Burswood has reached an agreement in principle to pay the State Government $60 million to acquire the land for the development of the hotel. As part of the agreement in principle with the Government and to meet the expected increase in demand, the Government has agreed not to oppose an application for 500 additional gaming machines and 130 additional gaming tables, including new private gaming salons. Additional gaming activities remain however subject to the approval of the Gaming and Wagering Commission of Western Australia.
Crown Limited is committed to making Crown Perth a world class entertainment precinct to compete not only in the region, with the mega resorts in Singapore and Macau, but also globally, where large integrated resorts are increasingly being developed to capture a share of the expanding tourism market, particularly out of China.
Luc Citrinot a French national is a freelance journalist and consultant in tourism and air transport with over 20 years experience. Based in Paris and Bangkok, he works for various travel and air transport trade publications in Europe and Asia.
