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The Perth Region - Tourism Product and Infrastructure Development Plan 2004-2013 identified beach front tourist accommodation, water activity theme parks, an off-site function centre for the PCEC and more beachfront recreational amenity as priorities for industry and government.
NPQ will be WA's biggest tourism attraction and meet identified demand for new coastal tourism infrastructure with:
- Three new beaches;
- World class marina;
- 2,200 permanent boat pens;
- 150 short-stay visitor boat pens;
- 500-room five-star hotel and convention centre;
- Performing arts centre;
- Theme park attraction;
- 150 tourist short stay rooms;
- 150 cafes, restaurants and bars; and
- 50,000sq m retail floor space.
The Strzelecki Group, proponents of the NPQ concept, owns and operates substantial tourism assets at Hillary's Boat Harbour and Mandurah Dolphin Quay and is planning to build a tourist retail centre at Morley. The Group will be Western Australia's biggest tourism operator when the Coventry Square development at Morley is completed in 2010.
The Strzelecki Group has formed a consortium of 44 Western Australian investors, including leading figures in property development, to finance and build NPQ.
A Tourism Co-ordinates study on tourism demand and economic impacts of NPQ (February 2008) identified North Port Quay as a new development zone which increases beachfront community amenity and represents a unique and significant opportunity to deliver new, high demand infrastructure for Perth and Western Australia.
Since 2005 WA has been losing tourism market share to other states and the need for Perth to develop new first-class tourism accommodation, services and experiences has been recognised by Tourism WA.
The Tourism Forecasting Council has forecast international visitor growth of +5.2% for WA from 2005 to 2015. If approved, NPQ will be fully operational for tourism from 2015.
The Tourism Co-ordinates report estimated the tourism potential of NPQ by comparing the proposed complex with Hillary's Boat Harbour, which has 3.5 million visitors a year. But by comparison, NPQ will have twice the retail floor space, six times the number of short-stay rooms, greater recreational amenity, and three times the number of boat pens and moorings. Tourism Co-ordinates estimates that at its completion in 10 years NPQ will attract between 10 and 15 million visitations annually.
The construction of NPQ is currently estimated to cost $16 billion, including tourism infrastructure.
The five-star hotel and convention centre and performing arts centre, retail and hospitality venues will be fully-funded and completed by the proponents. NPQ will complement existing tourism infrastructure, such as Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre, and make WA a more competitive tourist destination.
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