Proposed Boland Street Hotel shows industry confidence and will bring jobs, if approved, say stakeholders

A 135-room hotel has been proposed at 4-6 Boland Street and questions were raised about if the city needed another hotel.

Tasmanian Hospitality Association chief executive officer Steve Old said prior to the coronavirus pandemic, data from December 2019 showed occupancy rates of hotels in Northern Tasmania were about 77 per cent.

"If we can get back to the pre-COVID levels, there's definitely a need," he said.

"I think there was great confidence in the industry pre-COVID as tourism numbers and travel data suggested that Tasmania was a great place to travel to and that accommodation in Hobart and Launceston, like new accommodation, was still required."

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Mr Old said a new hotel was always a sign of confidence in the industry and would have a chain effect.

"It means there's going to be more jobs in the construction industry, there's gonna be more jobs in our industry, there's going to be a new business and a new product in Launceston, which I think is great for the area," he said.

"It's great to see developments in the middle of COVID, it's great to see that there's money around and there's developers that are willing to invest, not only in Launceston, in northern Tasmania, but invest in the industry.

"They've obviously got the confidence that Tasmania is going to bounce back reasonably quickly and that they can have a new product like this in Launceston."

The proposed hotel will fit 135 rooms across six-storeys, a restaurant, courtyard, gym and a 17-lot car park at the site between Launceston Showgirls and the Centrelink building on Boland Street.

The site is vacant as the two Georgian heritage cottages were demolished in 2018 after falling into a state of disrepair. It was previously earmarked for a $4 million apartment complex in 2017 and later for a $4.5 million three-storey office space in 2019.

Launceston Chamber of Commerce executive officer David Peach said the importance of hotels as economic inputs should not be understated.

"Hotels are important to a city like Launceston for a variety of reasons at anytime, and even more so in a city recovering from a COVID-19 stupor," he said.

"With the refurbishment of large-scale conferencing facilitates, such as Albert Hall, comes demand for nearby accommodation facilities that will support it.

"During the planning and construction phases, it creates jobs. At opening, they create Tasmanian jobs upstream in supply chains. In operation, they provide ongoing employment for Tasmanian hospitality workers across front and back of house. Oftentimes, these are also teaching facilities creating demand for apprentices."

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