Experience Gold Coast launches three-phase blitz after Cyclone Alfred smashed tourism businesses

Discounted accommodation, $50 vouchers and an unprecedented marketing blitz are in play for the Gold Coast’s tourism comeback after Ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred. Read the details

Discounted accommodation, $50 vouchers and an unprecedented marketing blitz are at the centrepiece of the Gold Coast’s tourism comeback after Ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred.

In a meeting with more than 150 business owners on Friday morning, Experience Gold Coast Experience Gold Coast CEO John Warn revealed 89 per cent of local businesses surveyed had endured customer cancellations in the past week, with 75 per cent also facing cancellations of forward bookings.

Mr Warn said a 20 per cent drop in occupancy on the Gold Coast across March was projected, equating to a loss of $137 million in overnight expenditure.

“The full impact of this extreme weather event on the visitor economy is not yet known, but we know it has been severe and widespread,” he said.

“Our Impact Survey shows tourism operators, accommodation providers and restaurants and cafes have been hit hard with almost half of them closed for more than seven days.

“In the week of ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred alone, the estimated lost in visitor spend was $42 million.”

Tallebudgera Creek. Picture Tourism and Events Queensland

Despite substantial damage to the city’s beloved beaches, the vast majority of local businesses have reopened and are ready to welcome visitors.

Mayor Tom Tate has said the city’s surf-scoured beaches can be repaired in time for the April holiday season, with the first of the repaired beaches to re-open this weekend, with flags expected on the beaches at Greenmount, Burleigh and Coolangatta on Friday with 36 still to go.

The Gold Coast’s famous theme parks reopened from Wednesday after copping only minimal damage from Cyclone Alfred.

Mr Warn told business leaders, while the destination was “not out of the woods yet”, a three-phase plan had been formulated to supercharge recovery, with the State Government set to tip serious money into the cause - to be revealed at the weekend.

The first phase would flood newsfeeds social media with the message the place is open for business, urging locals and visitors to share their experiences via a Love GC hashtag.

Mr Warn said Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne residents would be targeted in the organisation’s biggest campaign to date.

“All of our efforts are focused on getting business back on the Gold Coast as quickly as possible,” he said.

A silver lining amid the bad news was images of the cyclone’s wrath, beamed around the world, do not appear to have negatively impacted international visitor bookings at all.

Gold Coast beaches have been severely eroded but are already being repaired, with some to re-open this weekend under forecast sunny skies. Picture Glenn Hampson

Experience Gold Coast is launching a tourism marketing campaign in an effort to boost the sector after Cyclone Alfred.

A centrepiece in a suite of incentives aimed at enticing more spend on the Coast would be a “Spend $50, Get $50” initiative, which could be linked to user’s mobile digital wallets.

The scheme is a beefed-up version of the highly successful Play Money promotion, which offered 10,000 discounts for attractions and tours in 2020 after Covid.

This year’s iteration will be expanded to include accommodation and other businesses, with Mr Ward hinting there would be a larger volume of the discounts on offer this time around.

In 2020, all offers were redeemed within two days.

Cr Tate thanked the State Government for supporting the campaign with its pending announcement to come.

“There is no doubt our city will bounce back, and our iconic beaches will return to their former glory, ready welcome the millions of holiday-makers who choose our destination each year,’’ he said.

Originally published as Experience Gold Coast launches three-phase blitz after Cyclone Alfred smashed tourism businesses