Future Gold Coast: Following Tasmania the solution to boosting city’s tourism sector

Tourism industry figures say the Gold Coast must seek to emulate Tasmania if it is to see the city’s largest industry soar once again on the back of surprising new data. FIND OUT WHY

Former Destination Gold Coast chairman Paul Donovan has worked in the tourism sector for four decades, through the highs and lows the industry including 9/11, SARS, Covid and the financial crisis.

He sat down with the Bulletin this week to analyse the state of the city’s $7bn industry.

GOLD COAST BULLETIN: How well is the Gold Coast’s tourism sector doing right now?

Paul Donovan: It’s fantastic. In fact, the latest figures that came out showed we surpassed the economic impact of 2019 in terms of dollars to the city. So we’re in good shape.

Former Gold Coast tourism boss Paul Donovan Picture by Richard Gosling

GCB: What are we doing well at the moment?

PD: During and after Covid, we have reengineered and reworked the whole industry, the theme parks, more hotels, more accommodation. The restaurants are fantastic. The beaches are still the beaches and are wonderful. I think the product development has been something that’s keeping us at the forefront.

GCB: Looking at the state of the industry, what could we do better?

PD: A few things. In 2017 I worked with the Mayor and we put together a list of all the things we should be looking at, like making sure the M1 is upgraded, making sure we’ve got new the Hinterland product like bike tracks, great product for people in outdoor walking tracks, the skyrail, the Spit redevelopment. We need to keep pushing on all of these.

Artist impression of Gold Coast Light Rail Stage 4 between Tugun and Coolangatta, including Gold Coast Airport and the NSW border. Picture: Department of Transport and Main Roads.

GCB: In the decade leading up to the 2032 Olympic Games, what are the key things we need to achieve?

PD: There’s no question, light rail for the airport is a huge thing. We are in international airport and we haven’t got the connectivity everywhere else in the world has. We need to make sure we develop further authentic experiences on the Gold Coast. So the theme parks are critical. The infrastructure such as further M1 upgrades, expansion of all roadways that make the city easier to get around, HOTA and the arts and culture development, the convention centre expansion is critical to make sure we can handle what’s there. The Spit masterplan, the Hinterland, the walking trails, unlock the tourism potential of national parks. Why can’t we get more major events? We need leading up (to the Olympics) to showcase the city to the world. But we need then the connectivity with airlines. We need those hotels and those unit developments.

An aerial view of the Gold Coast Airport at Bilinga.

GCB: How impactful will Experience Gold Coast be?

PD: Pulling it all together will give us the best chance of promoting the Gold Coast to the world, there’s no question. Pulling the five major providers of bringing tourists and education and different people into the Gold Coast under one huge marketing body is huge. Then the arts and culture precinct is important.

GCB: Sports tourism is growing globally. How significant is it for us to have these national sporting teams and an NBL franchise which is being considered?

PD: It’s critical. And having an NBL team the way we used to with the Blaze are great. If you look on a weekend when we have the NRL playing and we have the Suns playing, someone like Collingwood, we have huge numbers of people fly in here a week or weekend that enjoy the accommodation, enjoy the games, they’re going to enjoy the restaurants and spend money everywhere. I’ve witnessed it personally, fantastic for the city.

Wonder Reef, Gold Coast

GCB: What do you think are the things holding us back?

PD: The M1, it’s a difficult because just is as fast as they do work to it, then it clogs up again because of the growth in population which as a city we’ve grown to around 750,000 people and it’s going to grow to a million. We just need to keep that access wide open.

GCB: What are the three things we cannot miss out on if we are to cope with a million people?

PD: Opening up the Hinterland. We need to keep pushing to try and get that skyrail done. The second thing is having world-class walking trails in the Hinterland, which goes with it and light rail to the airport. That’s critical. With the adventure tourism, downhill biking, zip lights, high rope courses. All of those things are things we need to do. Beach clubs too on our fantastic beaches Why not look after them by developing world-class beach clubs? But you have a few people that are naysayers that try and stop these things. The development of the Spit is fantastic. The superyacht facility there is going to hold us in good stead and get a lot of high-end money in. We need to make sure we widen the appeal of the city by offering new and different things. The theme parks are fantastic, but what about the health retreats? What about the walking, the things people want to do, the nuances we need to understand all of those international markets and domestic markets and what people are looking for, what they want when they come here.

Skyrail Rainforest Cableway gondola over Kuranda Range Road. Mr Donovan is an enthusiastic supporter of the Gold Coast having its own cableway.

GCB: Council obviously is investing significant money in expanding HOTA. How important is art tourism going to be in the next decade?

PD: Critical. The investment has been made so now we need to deliver. In 2019, we had 14.2 million tourists in and out. We need to build that because going towards 2032, we need to make sure we’ve got all the accommodations, all the attractions, the natural beauty of the beach and the Hinterland, the golf courses, the restaurants, everything that you could possibly have. We just need to further develop those areas like the beach, beach clubs, Hinterland, walking tracks, having access to the Hinterland. So it’s all there. You don’t need to be a rocket scientist. Just look at what other places have done, like Tasmania, like Queenstown, and you’ll see. Tasmania was dead on the vine. Then they got those walking tracks, those bike tracks, the golf courses, and now they’ve got the MONA (gallery), while we’ve got HOTA. We need to recreate what we’ve seen. To be quite honest, the council, both the councillors and the administrators and the new Experience Gold Coast entity are up for developing all of that.