Ex-tropical cyclone Alfred: $3m Gold Coast tourism funding to be spent luring tourists back to the city at Easter

More than $3m will be spent to bolster the Gold Coast’s struggling tourism sector as it recovers from ex-tropical cyclone Alfred. THIS IS HOW

More than $3m will be spent to bolster the Gold Coast’s struggling tourism sector as it recovers from ex-tropical cyclone Alfred.

The money will be used to promote the market and increase demand after a dramatic decline in bookings after the cyclone ravaged the coastline earlier this month.

The funding was committed by the council this week, with $2m to be administered directly by Experience Gold Coast, headed by CEO John Warn.

Mr Warn said the money would be used as part of a three-phase national campaign to bring tourists back to the city.

“Experience Gold Coast welcomes the allocation of $2m to fund a tourism attraction campaign to continue to drive visitors back to the Gold Coast following the devastating impact of ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred,” he said.

Experience Gold Coast CEO John Warn. Picture: Glenn Hampson.

“The work the City of Gold Coast has done to clean up and restore our natural environment in the aftermath of the storm has been nothing short of incredible with 22 beaches along our iconic coastline now reopened, and we now commend Council for its commitment to supporting the visitor economy to bounce back with this funding announcement.”

Mr Warn said the “Love GC” campaign would be aimed at getting tourists to visit during the Easter holidays.

“The next phase of the campaign to be launched before the end of the month will be a stimulus program, which will provide a much-needed boost for tourism operators.

“Locals and visitors will be able to take advantage of a ‘spend and get’ initiative where they spend $50 and receive another $50 voucher to use across a range of Gold Coast accommodation, experiences, and dining providers,” he said.

“We are really excited about the LOVE GC campaign and thank the City of Gold Coast for getting behind this initiative as we do everything we can to support local businesses at this challenging time.”

The Gold Coast City Council commissioned big-four professional services firm Deloitte to do a rapid analysis of the impact of Alfred on the economy while the storm was ongoing, a report which was turned around in just three days.

Of the remaining $1m, half will be put into a fund administered by Invest Gold Coast for “post-recovery” resilience, while the rest will go to a working group which will consider how to deliver accelerated recovery benefits to tourism.

Erosion at Main Beach on the Gold Coast from Tropical Cyclone Alfred. Picture: Nigel Hallett.

Among the members of the working group are Mayor Tom Tate, Council CEO Tim Baker and Mr Warn.

Mr Baker said it was critical to support the tourism sector, the city’s largest.

“Deloitte were engaged to look at the likely impact of the event and previous attempts to avert the damage, such as the Christmas Day storm,” he said.

“Deloitte did an outstanding job to turn it around in three days and it was presented to the Invest Gold Coast board where recommendations were made about the immediate things which needed to be done to respond.

Gold Coast City Council CEO Tim Baker. Picture: Glenn Hampson.

“The majority of the impact of this (cyclone) has been on the tourism sector.

“We are not going to the same broad brush approach that we had after the Christmas Day storm event, instead what we are proposing is that Invest Gold Coast hold the money and see how the attraction fund works and then would step in and put the money where there are gaps.”

Mayor Tom Tate. Picture: Glenn Hampson.

Mr Tate said the funding had come from council savings found in its most recent budget review.

“In terms of recovery I’m working closely with the Premier (David Crisafulli), but we have the opportunity to show we have skin in the game for economic recovery and I believe the state will also come in to support with us,” he said.

“This will leverage additional funding from the state.”