Welcome to the Gold Coast: Big Brother is tracking your every move in $3 billion tourism strategy

Tourists staying on the Gold Coast could soon be subjected to Big Brother technology should a council report be ticked off at a full council meeting this week. Here’s why it could happen.

BIG Brother and the ability to track visitors through their use of credit cards and mobile telephones is about to help boost Gold Coast tourism by up to $3 billion.

Councillors at a full council meeting on Tuesday are expected to tick off on a digital city platform, which will enable the Coast to beat other tourist destinations by knowing the next move of tourists.

RECORD NUMBERS OF TOURISTS COME TO COAST

Savannah Lee, 18 from Coomera and Mirren Alford, 20, from Logan Village enjoy the gorgeous weather at Mermaid Beach — technology will show what are our most popular beaches. Picture: Tim Marsden.

A report to council said: “there is an opportunity to grow the economy by up to $3 billion through prudent and efficient investment in events, tourism and other sectors of the economy”.

Council officers have begun building an Events, Economy and Insights Project, and the approval of funding totalling $3 million across the next two years will enable them to examine “five different data sets”.

Council chief innovation and economy officer Ian Hatton in a briefing to the planning committee said: “we will subscribe to two of those, it’s predominantly telco data but also all of the major banks and credit card companies will provide fully anonymised spend patterns”.

RECORD SPEND BY GOLD COAST TOURISTS

Surf lifesaver Cailin Pender-Laws — Surfers remains the tourist hotspot. Picture: NIGEL HALLETT.

“We’ve already been looking at this through the last couple of years through the Commonwealth Bank, who are the council’s major banking provider.”

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Early information on a postcode breakdown shows Surfers Paradise is double the drawcard for tourists of any other suburb on the Coast, followed by Broadbeach.

The new digital tool will pinpoint weaknesses in the market and how to build on those and gain more from the strengths.

“Nobody knows anything about people once they arrive. So to give you some idea of where the opportunities are out there, if every visitor to the Gold Coast bought an extra cup of coffee while they were here, that’s worth about $50 million into the economy,” Mr Hatton said.

SUBSCRIBE TO THE BULLETIN: $5 A MONTH FOR THE FIRST THREE MONTHS

CCTV cameras are everywhere in Surfers Paradise. Picture: NIGEL HALLETT.

The first phase of the project will use the following Big Brother tools:

● location insights — the large telecommunications carriers which offer mobility data.

● Wi-fi usage — the city’s SURF network has about 8000 unique users a day.

● expenditure patterns — accommodation, food, beverage and retail on credit cards.

● transport and travel — flight, public transport and Uber use.

● city’s sensor network — use of Internet of Things (IoT) devices in parks, beaches and other city assets.

The Coast’s major events portfolio was worth about $200 million to the local economy and the creation of Major Events Gold Coast aims to increase the value by 150 per cent by 2025 to over $450 million, the report to council said.

Destination Gold Coast CEO Annaliese Battista at a special budget meeting had warned “the absence of the data means that we have the potential to go backwards against our competitors”.

COAST TOURISM BOOMS AS OVERNIGHT VISITATION SURGES

The CCTV bunker at the Surfers Paradise Transit centre. Picture: David Clark.

“Because it’s become an extremely competitive market for us. Cheap hotels are extremely competitive. People can go somewhere else,” Mr Hatton told councillors.

“What we are proposing is to bring those data sets together, in a completely secure environment, run those analytics during the Christmas period.”

Hinterland-based councillor Glenn Tozer during the debate said the project would generate real value for money outcomes.

“It enables us to see where our citizens are moving to and from, and analyse their buying and spending habits. It enables us to get better value money out of marketing budget,” he said.

Coolangatta-based councillor Gail O’Neill, who has a strong background in the tourism industry, backed Cr Tozer’s view.

“And now that we are going to be in the major events space, I think it’s imperative we have that information. So well done,” she said.

Councillors at planning unanimously backed the recommendations but committee chair Cameron Caldwell cautioned that the report was light on detail and was not sure it would lead to a positive business outcome.

“It’s a lot of money for us to invest when there is a huge amount of data that is out there and already available. I personally need to be a bit more convinced on the line of sight on the return,” he said.

Council planning director Alisha Swain remains confident of the project’s success and a report would be provided in the New Year after a trial during the peak summer season.