The plan proposes a range of tourism, education, arts, science and recreation-based activities in the quarantine station precinct.

Accommodation would include a boutique hotel with conference and spa facilities, a backpacker hostel in a converted hospital building, camping area and respite centre.

There would be restaurants, cafes, a centre for historic collections and meeting rooms. Commercial activities would be mainly confined to the 90-hectare quarantine precinct with the rest of the 2100-hectare park to be largely untouched by human hands, although new walking tracks have been opened with more to come.

Two 1960s brick barracks used by the Australian Army's officer cadet school (1951-85) will be demolished to make way for the hotel, one of the most controversial aspects of the draft plan.

Sources associated with the now-disbanded Point Nepean Community Trust – appointed by the Howard government to oversee $25 million worth of renovations and infrastructure at the quarantine station until it was handed over to the state government last June – said prominent Melbourne hoteliers had looked at the site and decided it was not economically viable.

Flinders federal Liberal MP Greg Hunt agrees, saying in parliament earlier this month that "if that luxury hotel does get up, it will be a monumental breach of faith with everything that the community campaigned for over the last seven years".

"As with nearby Delgany – another classic heritage building that was used for a hotel - because of the seasonal nature of Portsea, [the new hotel] will inevitably fail.

"And when it fails these buildings at Point Nepean will be privatised. That is inevitable."

Park manager Stuart Hughes is far more positive: "Our staff are excited the park has been opened up to the public, especially with the entry fee removed on July 1, and that the draft plan is out.