He said while a key target was to grow annual visitor numbers to 1.5 million by 2020, part of that included maintaining the split of overnight accommodation of between Hobart and the rest of the state.

“About 56 per cent of all visitor nights are spent outside of Hobart and we want to keep it around that number because it means visitors are getting into the regions,” he said.

“But obviously when you’ve got 1,200 hotel rooms currently under construction in Hobart, we've got to make sure that we are providing capacity for the regions to grow as well.”

Mr Martin said this is why the decision by the Launceston City Council to sell part of the Cimitiere Street car park to make way for a high-end hotel was a smart move.

He said while there was a real fear within the industry that more hotel rooms could end in glut, the risk was worth the investment.

“That will only happen if we fail to keep growing the industry, the reality is the reason why people are investing in accomodation now is that we have grown visitor numbers by about 30 per cent in four years,” he said.

“We’ve got a pretty bullish goal to grow them by another 30 per cent and the only way we are going to grow numbers is to provide the investment infrastructures that people need.”

Statistics from Tourism Tasmanian indicate that overnight stays in Launceston are up almost 40 per cent since June 2013.