Great Keppel Island to close
An AAP report says that staff are to be laid off and holidays refunded after the operators of Queensland’s Great Keppel Island announced the tourist resort would be demolished and rebuilt.
The Great Keppel Island Resort, east of Rockhampton on Queensland’s central coast, will close to the public on February 25, its owners said today.
The existing resort, opened in 1967, will be demolished and a new “luxury resort” built from the ground up.
“Resort owners had been planning a significant renovation to the existing resort but today announced that a refurbishment wouldn’t do the island justice and that a complete rebuild of a new luxury resort was the only way to move forward,” management said in a statement.
Plans for the new development are yet to be submitted to the local council, but construction on the new resort is expected to begin in early 2009.
“Holidaymakers with existing bookings will receive full refunds or offered an alternative holiday option at a resort of similar quality to Great Keppel Island,” the statement said.
“All of the island’s 110 staff will receive redundancy payments and assistance with placements into alternative positions.”
A Report by The Mole from AAP
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