Aquis dismisses damning university report

In the Weekend Post Aquis dismisses a report by the Australian University and to fully understand what was stated read the following:

As reported in the Weekend Post

• by: Nick Dalton
• From: The Cairns Post
• September 06, 2014 1:00AM
  



VISION: The proposed $8.15 billion Aquis Great Barrier Reef Resort planned for Yorkeys Knob in Cairns. Source: Supplied

A UNIVERSITY report claiming the $8.15 billion Aquis project will rely heavily on Far Northern poker machine players to make money has been dismissed by the resort’s proponents.

Australian National University PhD candidate Francis Markham and Southern Cross University Centre for Gambling Education and Research senior lecturer Martin Young say Aquis will rely on revenue from the proposed 1500 poker machines, not Chinese high rollers.
“The pokies in the Aquis ­casino will overwhelmingly be used by locals,’’ they said.
“Putting an additional 1500 pokies in Cairns is likely to extract a staggering amount of economic resources out of the community, even when adjusting for pokie losses forgone at other pubs and clubs.
“Our modelling suggests that, on average, each adult resident in Cairns will spend an extra $240 per year on pokies, or, as a city, more than $56 million per year by 2021.”
Their report says that even though Aquis plans to attract the Chinese mass-market middle class and also the big-spending Chinese upper class, it would turn to the “local” pokies market.
“A careful reading of the Productivity Commission’s estimates and Crown Casino Melbourne’s annual reports shows pokies are more important to Crown Melbourne’s bottom line than high rollers. Profits from pokies amounted to an estimated $376 million in 2008-09 compared to $330 million from high rollers.’’
Aquis Aware Coalition of Concerned Citizens spokesman Denis Walls said “it appears clear that Aquis will rely on locals playing pokies much more than high roller Chinese at gaming tables if it is to be anywhere near sustainable”.
“This reinforces the position held by Senator Nick Xenophon and Rev Tim Costello that projects like



Aquis are likely to be a blight on our community if it goes ahead,” he said.

An Aquis spokesman said the population of Cairns was not big enough to justify the billions of dollars to be invested at Yorkeys Knob.
“The core customer target has always been and will always be tourists.
“It is also important to note the casino is just one aspect of the integrated resort with a convention centre, theatres for live entertainment, recreational and sporting facilities and world class shopping also drawing in visitors. We expect these additional facilities to be the main attraction for locals.”

Admin says:
It is very interesting to read this item and as usual the developers and consultants have never admitted that there could be a problem that may arise.
It is common sense that no matter what project that is proposed there is always some hidden concerns but the whole attitude with this project is like the old saying "she'll be right jake".
It is also interesting to note that not one of the politicians in this area has ever stated that there could be some concerns with this project yet their leader Premier Campbell Newman stated on radio talkback earlier this year that he did have some concerns with this project but didn't elaborate on what they were.
Also interesting to note that an Aquis spokesman stated "the population of Cairns was not big enough to justify the billions of dollars to be invested at Yorkeys Knob."
Apparently they are relying on the Chinese tourist well this may not go their way as America is about to open up Guam for Chinese tourists with direct flights and it has been reported that the Chinese are also heading and have been for some time now to Hawaii where they say it cheaper.

Convention Centre:
What will happen to Cairns Convention Centre as Aquis is intending to include one in their project and one has to ask why do we need two convention centres and more importantly why do we need three casinos in Cairns.

Theatres for live entertainment:

With the council intending to upgrade the Civic Theatre why again do we another one in a casino the only reason is take the money away from Cairns city.

 Recreational and sporting facilities:

We have Barlow Park, Cazaly's football grounds and hockey fields in North Cairns again another lot of duplication and if Cairns wants to use these grounds it will probably cost and arm & a leg so why does a casino/resort require this.

World class shopping:

The shopping centre will be exclusively used by the tourist because they will be the only ones able to afford to purchase items.
The developer no doubt will make sure that they have all the shops required to meet the visitors needs so the locals will not gain a thing from this project apart from maybe some jobs.