Kingfisher sell-off shines on us | Fraser Coast News | Local News in Fraser Coast

Hervey Bay and Fraser Island were very different 19 years ago when Kerry Brough began working for Kingfisher Bay Resort.

TOURISM and council bosses yesterday welcomed the news of the multi-million-dollar Kingfisher Bay and Eurong Beach resorts sell-off on Fraser Island.

“I think this puts the spotlight firmly on the Fraser Coast and gives us some extraordinary opportunities to attract big business interest from around the world,” said councillor Anne Nioa, who holds the Fraser Coast Regional Council tourism and marketing portfolio and is the head of the Fraser Coast South Burnett Tourism Board.

“All components of the business are complementary so the fact it’s being sold as a package will allow the buyer to cover all areas of the island, which is why the business is already so successful,” she said.

Kingfisher Bay Resort Village Group and Japanese-owned Cosmos Australia have been partners since they developed the resort village in 1990.

Cosmos has decided to pull out of its offshore interests, leading to managing director Gary Smith and his partner, finance director David Goodman, deciding to sell the assets by expressions of interest, closing April 14.

Mayor Mick Kruger said he hoped the prospective buyer would share “the same level of passion for the island and the region as the present owners do”.

“They have been very good corporate citizens. I’d like to see that continue.”

The group is one of the largest employers in the region, with some 300 staff in its resort, touring and marine offices. The group also has a Brisbane office and a Sydney representative.

Kingfisher Bay’s director of sales and marketing, Kerry Brough, can remember when the resort site at North White Cliffs was just a jetty, some wallum scrub, eucalypts and sand.

“When I first arrived on the Fraser Coast 19 years ago the airport was the size of a small office and was nothing but a tin donga. Urangan Harbour didn’t exist and we bounced across the Great Sandy Strait in a little yellow speedboat and there was nothing at the resort but the jetty,” she said.

Ms Brough began working for Kingfisher in February 1991 when she was employed as corporate sales manager, or “one of the three marketing musketeers”, as part of the pre-opening team. “The nice thing for the team in the early days was working for a business that met every environmental guideline, putting us right at the forefront of eco-tourism when ecotourism wasn’t even a word.

“It was why the property became a blueprint for environmentally sensitive tourism worldwide.”