Visit Gold Coast: 180,000 plane tickets bought for Gold Coast flights between April and September
An astonishing number of people are coming to the Gold Coast over winter who are set to spend up a storm and local businesses are the big winners. Here’s why.
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NEARLY 180,000 flights to the Gold Coast have been booked in just three weeks.
New Federal Government data released on Monday shows the Glitter Strip’s tourism has rebounded from its COVID-19 slump, with Sydney and Melbourne residents flocking in.
Between April 1 and 18, 178,000 people bought tickets to the Gold Coast as part the Federal Government’s half-price flights scheme. A total of 600,000 tickets have been sold nationwide.
Moncrieff MP Angie Bell said the program had already proven to be a success.
“These half price airfares have been just the ticket the Gold Coast needed for more confidence and more tourists visiting and spending,” she said. “Local businesses operators have told me they are glad we have their back.”
More than 82,000 Melburnians bought Gold Coast tickets, followed closely by 78,000 Sydneysiders.
Canberra and Hobart residents round out the remainder.
The scheme, which will run until September, was launched by the government to revitalise the tourism industry which was left devastated by COVID-19 border closures.
The Gold Coast’s $6 billion-a-year tourism industry lost nearly half its value.
Destination Gold Coast’s new CEO Patricia O’Callaghan welcomed the figures, which she said were in line with market research in recent months.
“Aviation is a great way of bringing people into the region and to see these numbers shows what our research had pointed to,” she said.
“It showed the Gold Coast was the most searched-for destination for people looking to holiday.”
It comes just a week after the launch of the quarantine-free trans-Tasman bubble with New Zealand.
Ms O’Callaghan said it was a step in the right direction.
“Our first international bubble is a significant milestone and the start of further expansion of travel,” she said.
“But we cannot underestimate our domestic audience,” she said.
How Kiwis will save Gold Coast’s economy
GOLD Coast tourism bosses will shell out more than $1.3 million to lure travel-hungry Kiwis back to the Glitter Strip in the biggest New Zealand ad blitz ever.
Destination Gold Coast will flood the Kiwi market for a 12-week campaign beginning Wednesday as quarantine-free flights with Australia start on Monday.
The big-spending trans-Tasman campaign is just the opening salvo of the city’s charm offensive to win back tourists in an increasingly competitive tourism market.
Destination Gold Coast CEO Patricia O’Callaghan said it was critical for the city to have an edge over other markets vying for the same visitors.
“We know New Zealanders can’t wait to come back to the Gold Coast and they will be welcomed with open arms by our 4600 tourism businesses,” she said.
“Our $1.3 million marketing push is the Gold Coast’s largest-ever spend in New Zealand, so the proportion of investment reflects the importance of re-engaging with this key visitor market.
“New Zealand was our second-largest international visitor market source pre-COVID and this is a significant milestone for Gold Coast tourism operators being the first international market to come back online in more than a year.”
More than 212,000 New Zealanders visited the Gold Coast in 2019, injecting $241 million into the city’s economy.
It comes as new data reveals the financial cost of the pandemic on the Gold Coast’s tourism economy in 2020, while devastating, was not as bad as initially feared.
Total figures show a loss of 5.5 million visitors during 2020, down 39 per cent on 2019 figures.
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Tourism spending across the calendar year dropped by 54 per cent to $3.2 billion.
But Ms O’Callaghan said a new Qantas Gold Coast-Auckland service would supply an extra 63,000 inbound seats a year.
“One per cent of all Kiwis live on the Gold Coast and we know an annual holiday to our region is a tradition for thousands of Kiwi families who will now be able to flee winter for a sun-soaked holiday,” she said.
“The marketing approach reinforces the Gold Coast as top-of-mind for families abroad and our visiting friends and relatives’ market.
“The campaign will highlight the Gold Coast’s top-rated travel activities and a breadth of lesser-known experiences in addition to our golden beaches, rainforest hinterland, iconic theme parks, alfresco dining and calendar of events.”
The new campaign comes after months of work by Destination Gold Coast to build-up anticipation of travel resuming.
In February it launched an advertising blitz using local Kiwis to sell the city to New Zealand.
In early April in launched its next step, a television advertisement called ‘New Zealand: We’re On’ in which Gold Coast Kiwis urged their “Cuzzies” to pack their bags and “get over here”.
Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate said the city was a second home for New Zealanders.
“To our Kiwi cousins, I say come and play on the Gold Coast,” he said. “To see international flights arriving and departing gives us all great confidence that this is not the first travel bubble to expand out of the coast.”
WHY QUEENSTOWN SHOULD BE COAST’S SISTER CITY
THE New Zealand resort mecca of Queenstown is poised to become the Gold Coast’s newest sister city.
Mayor Tom Tate has written to his counterpart, Queenstown Mayor Jim Boult, proposing a deal which would see greater ties between the two.
The news has been welcomed in New Zealand, with Mr Boult saying he was keen to meet Cr Tate.
Cr Tate, a noted rugby fan, said co-operation on sporting grounds as well as economics and tourism would be on the cards.
“I love Queenstown and would be excited to discuss ways to better link our two cities,” he said.
“It may be through economic agreements in aviation, tourism and even sport … although us Aussies are pretty good at sport.
“Having said that, I won’t mention rugby of course but netball, hockey and cricket certainly bring out the best in us.”
Thousands of Australians are expected to flock to Queenstown and other New Zealand tourism hot spots in coming weeks, with international borders opening on Monday.
Mr Boult, who has been Mayor of the Queenstown-Lakes District Council for five years, said his town and the Gold Coast had much in common.
“I would be very pleased to meet with the Gold Coast Mayor and have a discussion with him,” he said.
“Tourism is our major economic driver and obviously like the Gold Coast, we have been badly hit by a lack of international travel because of COVID.
“We are absolutely delighted that borders are reopening this week.”
Cr Tate said he would travel to New Zealand in August on the first mayoral mission of his third term to sell the city personally.
“I have always believed that friendships are forged face-to-face and we have that opportunity now that our travel bubble is expanding,” he said.
“I love Queenstown so much that I’ve actually kissed the ground there several times, albeit when I’ve gone face first on the ski slopes. It was remarkable.”
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