Recently erected in Townsville without the media noticing was a large sign saying you can fly direct to Singapore from Cairns with SilkAir , the regional wing of Singapore Airlines . And the city's prominent CBD building known as the Sugar Shaker [right] , the Holiday Inn , has been sold to Singapore's Grand Hotels International for $15million and renamed the Hotel Grand Chancellor, which sounds like a link with colonial times when Britain ruled the waves . Further down the coast , at Airlie Beach , the Club Crocodile resort has been bought by Singaporean group Well Smart Investment Holdings for a reported $9million. The group already owns the Mantra Terrace Hotel in Brisbane and the Ibis Budget Hotel , Melbourne .