Future Gold Coast: Tourism data shows Coast’s strong winter season

The Gold Coast’s peak tourism body is claiming victory, with new data revealing its two 2019 campaigns injected an astonishing amount of money into the economy.

THE Gold Coast’s peak tourism body is claiming victory, with new data revealing its two 2019 campaigns injected more than $20 million into the city’s economy.

Figures released by Destination Gold Coast show the city defied the national average to report strong occupancy during the traditionally quiet winter months.

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More than $20 million has been injected into the local economy.

Accommodation figures for July, show the Gold Coast had a 75 per cent occupancy rates when compared to last year’s strong performance, in the wake of the 2018 Commonwealth Games.

The Gold Coast also tracked ahead of flat national growth rates with the average daily rate increasing by 3.5 per cent to $192 and upped the revenue per available room by four per cent.

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The city’s success is shown in the numbers.

Destination Gold Coast CEO Annaliese Battista said the city was seeing success.

“Survey data clearly shows that we have been able to influence visitor consideration for the destination by capitalising on brand momentum to leverage emotional drivers that champion priority experiences and activities to highlight core strengths – our beaches, relaxing by the pool, casual dining options, theme parks and the spectacular hinterland,” she said.

“Those who recalled the campaign, particularly high-spenders travelling with children, were more likely to consider visiting the Gold Coast in the next six or 12 months.”

Accommodation providers are happy with the results of winter.

“The first marketing campaign – ‘Australia’s favourite playground’ – resulted in an estimated $20 million in economic return for the city and a bumper Easter holiday period for operators.

“More recently, we redoubled our efforts and launched a winter tourism push to ‘come and play’ in Australia’s favourite playground in key visitor source markets.

Destination Gold Coast Survey data obtained by the Gold Coast Bulletin reveals:

* 55 per cent of respondents associated the Gold Coast with the term ‘Australia’s playground’.

* 58 per cent of people surveyed indicated they were considering the Gold Coast for a holiday in the next two years.

* Four in 10 who saw the recent campaign had an improved opinion of the Gold Coast as a holiday destination (44 per cent).

* 38 per cent considered it a more appealing destination, with 57 per cent of families recording a positive change in perception.

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The city had a strong winter season.

And leading accommodation providers said they had seen an improvement in visitor numbers.

Accor Hotels says it had a 43 per cent year-on-year increase in leisure bookings through winter.

Accor chief operating officer Simon McGrath added: “The domestic family market represents a large, growing and high-value market segment for tourism operators on the Gold Coast and this campaign proved to be a great success for our Peppers, Mantra and BreakFree properties on the Gold Coast.”