Gold Coast hit by Aussie visitor dip, no panic by Annaliese Battista

AUSSIE visitor numbers have dipped into the Gold Coast but the city’s new tourism boss has good reason not to be concerned about it.

THE Gold Coast’s new boss of tourism is shrugging off a dip in Aussies visiting in the past year as an “anomaly” linked to the Commonwealth Games.

Australians holidaying on the Gold Coast dropped 1.2 per cent to 3.5 million for the year to June 30.

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But the city recorded a 3.9 per cent jump in spend to $3.1 billion.

Asked about the dip, Destination Gold Coast’s new CEO Annaliese Battista said: “We experienced softer months in the lead-up the Commonwealth Games and that has flowed into this June quarter.

Destination Gold Coast CEO Annaliese Battista. Picture Glenn Hampson

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“The 2017-18 financial year was really an anomaly – the Gold Coast hosted the Commonwealth Games and we know that domestic visitors may have delayed holidays.

“We have seen mega-events around the world experiencing this phenomena immediately before and after they are stagged, so we too are not immune to this,” she said.

Despite the soft pre-Games, visitors into the Gold Coast jumped 11 per cent from April to June which included the Games fortnight. All up 897,000 Aussies stayed overnight for the three months.

Destination Gold Coast CEO Annaliese Battista says a 1.2 per cent dip in Aussie visitors into the Gold Coast for the year to June is an “anomaly” relating to a soft lead-in to the Commonwealth Games. Picture Glenn Hampson

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But the visitor boost during April’s Games doesn’t account for significant numbers of locals quitting town which led to it being dubbed “Ghost Coast”.

That was compounded by a 9.6 per cent drop in Brisbane overnight visitors for the year.

Ms Battista: “We anticipated a large proportion of the April to June figures would be attributed to Games patronage which reflects the 11 per cent spike in visitation.

“However, the 9.6 per cent decline in Brisbane overnight visitors for the year, clearly highlights three months of trepidation in the lead-up to the Games,” she said.

For the year, day trippers soared 20.3 per cent to 7.4 million visitors and their spend grew by 13.8 per cent to $733 million.