Calls grow for European beach clubs along Queensland’s coastline
The Gold Coast should be home to Queensland’s first beach bars according to leaders and industry experts, which hotel giants could latch onto.
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The Gold Coast should pioneer the rollout of European-style beach clubs before being rolled out at tourist hotspots such as the Sunshine Coast, Airlie Beach, and Cairns, according to the state’s leading tourism advocates.
Tourism and Events Queensland chief executive Craig Davidson said beach bars could be established along Queensland’s coastline during the summer months and resorts and hotel giants would seize the opportunity.
“...Some of the imagery you could create would be beautiful,” Mr Davidson said.
“There’s no reason why that concept, if it proves itself and works on the Gold Coast, that it couldn’t be looked at for other jurisdictions as well, provided it’s done responsibly, and the access to the public, that’s really key.”
Experience Gold Coast CEO John Warn said it was no secret that “destinations which continually invest in new products and experiences gain a competitive edge in driving visitation to a city”.
“Here on the Gold Coast, we are focussed on new experiences and particularly nature-based tourism offerings,” he said.
“The Gold Coast is famous for its beaches and, with over 55km of sandy coastline, beach clubs occupying just a small footprint of our coastline could add yet another asset to our growing list of tourism offerings - but it would need to be done sustainably.”
It comes after beach bars were backed by Premier David Crisafulli at a Future Gold Coast lunch on Friday, where he also supported slashing red tape for small Queensland bars by removing ID scanners.
Minister for Environment and Tourism Andrew Powell told The Sunday Mail beach clubs would be compatible with the government’s 20-year tourism plan released earlier this year.
“We know beach clubs are popular in a number of international destinations, but I’m confident that we can add a Queensland flavour that will keep people coming back for more,” Mr Powell said.
While Sunshine Coast Mayor Rosanna Natoli said beach clubs had not been raised within her communities, there could be a platform to do so with the council’s recently established Citizens Panel.
She noted temporary pop-up events at Alexandra Headland had been well received.
“It’s important we strike the right balance between activation and protection, especially when it comes to public land and our environmentally sensitive foreshore areas,” she said.
“We definitely want to support tourism and business, but we are very different from the Gold Coast.”
Meanwhile, Brisbane hospitality stalwart Andrew Baturo said he supported stripping ID scanners from his venues such as the Gresham and believed they caused Brisbane to suffer a reputational dent when the British Irish Lions visited earlier this month.
“We, and I’m sure many, many other bars, had to turn away these wonderful Lions supporters who had come over here with plenty of money to spend,” Mr Baturo said.
“But because they didn’t know the rules about taking their passports out of their hotel rooms or taking it with them, they didn’t have the idea that was required in order for them to come into these bars after 10pm.
“50, 60, 70 year old people and were consequently turned away, and there’s been a lot of chatter around how embarrassing that is, especially when we think about the world stage of the Olympics looming.”
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Originally published as Calls grow for European beach clubs along Queensland’s coastline
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