Fung family eyes Australia hotel plan amid mainland tourist flood
Justin Fung says the country is popular with mainland tourists due to its fresh air, open spaces, natural beauty, good food, and ease of travel
The large number of mainland tourists visiting Australia is why Justin Fung Seung-yan, grandson of veteran Hong Kong broker Fung King-hey, invests in hotel and property projects in the country.
Justin Fung, 32, is the chief executive of development and investment business Aquis Australia. He works closely with his father Tong Fung Wing-cheung who chairs the company which has investments in a number of hotels, property, casinos and horse breeding businesses in Australia.
“The number of outbound tourists from mainland China is huge. Many studies estimate there will be 200 million Chinese tourists per year and Australia will be their No 1 choice,” Fung told the South China Morning Post.
“Australia is popular with mainland tourists due to its fresh air, open spaces, natural beauty, good food, and ease of travel. The climate is also important. As it is in the southern hemisphere, it’s summer in Australia when China goes into winter, and vice versa. This attracts travellers who want to escape cold winters or hot summers at home to go to Australia for their holidays,” he said.
“Also, Australia has insufficient travel facilities and this will provide a lot of business opportunities for us to develop hotels and other travel facilities,” Fung said.
The Fung family has invested in several major projects in Australia over the past two decades with the latest being the A$440 million Pacific Point project to build the first six-star beachfront hotel at the Surfers Paradise resort in the tourist hot spot of Queensland’s Gold Coast. The project, pending regulatory approval, will start construction in 2018.
