Why the Gold Coast is missing out on Moolies moolah
While the Gold Coast is best in class when it comes to tourism, it looks like the city is getting schooled when it comes to the latest travel trend.
While the Gold Coast is best in class when it comes to tourism, it looks like the city is getting schooled when it comes to the latest travel trend.
Because even as thousands of Schoolies descend on Surfers Paradise, their parents are avoiding the area like the plague.
While that might not seem noteworthy, it means we’re missing out on the Moolies moolah.
And that’s a big mistake.
Huge.
Moolies is the growing trend for mums of Schoolies to host their own celebration or holiday at the same time as their school-leaver offspring.
Travel operators like Girls Getaway say these mum trips have surged since 2018, with many heading to destinations like Noosa, Port Stephens and the Hunter Valley.
The trend is being actively embraced by hotels and tourism bodies, who now see moolies as a lucrative, party-ready demographic in their own right.
But when it comes to the Gold Coast, it seems the vibe of our destination is more ‘get away’ than ‘getaway’.
Sure, there was the launch of a three-week Moolies and Doolies festival on the southern Gold Coast and Tweed region back in 2019, which focused on live music, but while it still maintains an online presence, there are no events listed.
In fact, I can’t find a single Moolies-specific event in our city.
By contrast, Noosa has become the premier hotspot for mums of school-leavers.
Beachfront restaurant Bistro C is offering a Moolies Lunch, featuring bottomless cocktails and champagne.
Meanwhile, the Australian Financial Review reports that Noosa’s five-star Sofitel Noosa Pacific was at full occupancy over the official Schoolies weeks of November 22 to December 6 – with the $729 to $1236pn rooms unlikely to be occupied by school-leavers themselves.
So why aren’t we joining the Moolies party?
With 15,000 kids here on the Gold Coast there must surely be a few hundred helicopter parents hovering nearby.
And let’s not forget the thousands of local parents who wouldn’t mind a hometown celebration.
In fact, given the trend for local school-leavers is to head anywhere but here, why don’t we take advantage of the vacancies at five-star venues?
Surfers Paradise might be overrun, but the rest of the city is ours for the taking.
Lunch at Rick Shores anyone? A weekend away at the Langham? A full day at Spa by JW Gold Coast?
Indeed, modern Moolies is about mothers indulging themselves on a luxury girls’ trip, or a five-star spa day, or even a night out together where they can let their hair down.
Given the end of schooling also means the end of school fees for private students, as well as the possibility of reduced household expenses as our kids move into adulthood – and (hopefully) embrace the financial responsibilities that entails – we have a bit of money to burn.
Plus, we’re a versatile market … we’re willing to book an event for the whole parental cohort or a getaway for the closest members of our mummy mafia, those with whom we bonded back in prep when ours were the children crying, or wetting their pants or making their mark on the naughty chair.
The funny thing is that after 13 years of making school lunches, finding lost hats, buying new socks, sending notes to teachers, running forgotten papers/computers/lunches to school, being both counsellor and emotional punching bag for stressed-out kids, as well as their eternal cheerleader, I’m really going to miss this job.
As parents, we’re told the days are long and the years are short … and it’s a cliche because it’s true.
But also, I’m pretty sure I deserve a reward for this incredible long-service.
So should you happen to hear a particularly boozy cruise on the Broadwater this week, with strains of a classic 90s playlist floating over the water, don’t worry.
I’m just helping to build the Gold Coast’s Moolies market.
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Originally published as Why the Gold Coast is missing out on Moolies moolah
