Gold Coast’s tourism mecca bounces after influx of travellers through airport

It’s been a wild end to 2023 - but find out why Gold Coast Airport bosses are smiling.

The Gold Coast’s backbone industry tourism has been revitalised with more than half a million more airport passengers this summer than the previous year.

Queensland Airports Limited (QAL), the owner and operator of the Gold Coast Airport (GCA) has recorded strong passenger growth, with more than 8.1 million customers travelling through its four airports for 2023.

It’s up 10 per cent from 2022.

The majority of travellers came to the Glitter Strip, where more than 6.2 million passengers passed through the gates of Gold Coast Airport in the past 12 months.

Of that, 3,125,329 passengers were arriving and 3,108,793 people were departing.

QAL CEO Amelia Evans said the newly released data showed demand for travel continues to increase both domestically and internationally.

“Across QAL’s four airports we’ve seen steady growth throughout the year, with figures showing flights were fuller than pre-pandemic, particularly in and out of Gold Coast Airport, where flights were on average 86 per cent full,” Ms Evans said.

Qld Airports CEO Amelia Evans. Picture: Glenn Campbell

“Despite impacts from the storms in the south-east and Cyclone Jasper in North Queensland, both Gold Coast Airport and Townsville Airport recorded some very busy travel days either side of Christmas.”

The busiest day at the Gold Coast terminal was on December 28, when 145 flights and almost 23,000 travellers passed through in a single day.

However, holiday outing plans were thwarted after theme parks closed ahead of dire forecasts on New Year’s Day and Christmas Eve last year.

Movie World, Dreamworld, Wet’n’Wild and WhiteWater World all announced they would be shut on January 1 due to severe weather conditions in the area. Sea World was one of the few attractions which managed to stay open.

Gold Coast Bulltin journalists Tahlia Leathart and Tayla Coucaud take a first look and ride of Dreamworlds new ride, the Dreamworld Flyer. Picture: Glenn Hampson

But despite the gloomy end to the year, Experience Gold Coast CEO John Warn said he was anticipating a strong rebound for the tourism mecca.

Flights were busier than pre-pandemic levels despite the stormy end to the year, he said.

“It’s welcomed news to see flights are fuller than pre-pandemic levels and continuing to track exceptionally strong into Gold Coast Airport,” Mr Warn said.

“2024 is the year we move beyond recovery and there’s a lot on the horizon to be excited for.”

Experience Gold Coast CEO John Warn. Picture: Glenn Campbell

Mr Warn said the Gold Coast Summer FUNds initiative contributed to the overall recovery of the storm-stricken region.

“The 50,000 $50 vouchers were snapped up by South East Queenslanders within six days, in turn delivering an immediate $7.2 million shot-in-the-arm for the local economy and we know that even more will be spent here over the next two months because of this program.”

“This summer was on track to be one of the strongest yet for our visitor economy but weather events over the Christmas/New Year period impacted our peak trading window with projected losses in the millions for experience operators,” he said.

Originally published as Gold Coast’s tourism mecca bounces after influx of travellers through airport