Port Douglas’ reputation as Australia’s premier tourist and lifestyle destination is being enhanced with a total of thirty new 22-metre and 30-metre marina berths now under construction at The Reef Marina.

At a cost approaching $3 million, this first phase of the expansion represents a substantial investment in Port Douglas’ tourism infrastructure and will boost employment and economic activity in the region by attracting more tourism vessels and visiting boats, including superyachts.

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Construction of the berths began last week by Queensland based and family-owned company The Jetty Specialist and is expected to be completed by August this year.

The Reef Marina’s investment in upgrading the marina and retail facilities is now over $5 million, and General Manager Rob Cruz says further investment should follow.

“All going to plan, we hope to treble this investment over the next few years and restore The Reef Marina as one of Australia’s best marine tourism facilities”.

The expansion will boost employment and economic activity in Port Douglas and the wider region. 

By providing additional capacity for private vessels and superyachts to visit Port Douglas and more commercial operators to base themselves here, the region will attract thousands of additional marine tourists and private yacht visitors each year. 

This heightened activity will create employment opportunities and increase incomes for the region’s important marine and tourism sectors. This will result in an economic multiplier effect which is estimated to be several millions of dollars per year.

“The marina has been operating at near full capacity for some time. We have been regularly turning away boats that want to visit Port Douglas because we haven’t been able to accommodate them.

Visiting superyachts will be a boon for Port Douglas as they will inject considerable money into the local economy. Superyachts currently gravitate towards competing destinations such as Airlie Beach as we don’t have the infrastructure to accommodate them here,” said Mr Cruz.

The Reef Marina’s expansion will not require dredging and will not impact vegetation or fisheries.