Gold Coast tourism: Gold Coast City Council to pump $39m into tourist park upgrades
It has been revealed tens of millions of dollars will be pumped into Gold Coast tourist parks to give the much-loved holiday hotspots a facelift. DETAILS >>>
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IT HAS been revealed almost $40 million will be pumped into Gold Coast tourist parks to give the much-loved holiday hotspots a facelift.
Gold Coast City Council will fork out $39 million over the next decade for the revamps of Tallebudgera Tourist Park and five more parks at Broadwater, Main Beach, Burleigh, Ocean Beach and Jacobs Well.
However, the council states the parks are a self-funded entity which do not rely on general ratepayer funds and the upgrades would be “fully paid from earnings”.
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Friday’s revelation comes after an incredibly tough year or so for the city’s embattled tourism sector, which has been hit hard by the global coronavirus pandemic and a total absence of international tourists.
Councillor Hermann Vorster, lifestyle and community chair, said the tourist park facelifts would make sure Coast tourist parks remain industry leaders in Queensland and across the country.
“Our parks welcome 150,000 guests each year and inject $86 million into the economy,” he said.
The council stated $1 million has already been invested in refreshing park assets over the last 18 months. Two vintage vans have been put in place at Burleigh Beach Tourist Park and there is now a wellness centre at Tallebudgera Tourist Park.
Detailed design concepts will be completed in 2022-23 followed by a staged delivery between 2023-30, the council stated.
'Sad reality' facing Gold Coast tourism businesses
March 10: Struggling tourism operators on the border after losing the world surfing event are taking a second hit, missing out to rival Cairns on much needed COVID disaster relief funding.
Currumbin MP Laura Gerber, as part of her work in the shadow cabinet, has just returned from north Queensland where tourism operators are set to reap the benefits of Labor’s 15,000 travel vouchers worth $200 in a $14 million economic recovery bid to boost tourism.
Meanwhile, council is working behind the scenes to get the World Surfing League back to Snapper Rocks after the 20-year venue lost out to NSW for this year’s event.
Ms Gerber told Parliament tourism operators in her southern Coast community were “devastated” after the impact of border closures due to COVID-19.
“These businesses need this government’s help and need targeted industry support,” she said.
“It is no secret that tourism operators have struggled immensely throughout COVID-19, so it was good to see the small win for Cairns tourism this week, but there are other businesses in exactly the same economic position in the border community that also need state relief.”
Southern tourism operators relied heavily on international tourism and needed targeted support now, Ms Gerber said.
“It has not been viable for tourism operators such as the Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary and the TreeTop Challenge to keep their doors open seven days a week,” she said.
“The sad reality is that they can operate only a few days a week, because the visitors are not there.
“Take a local favourite and tourism dependent business, Gold Coast Skydive. A massive 55 per cent of its business relies on international tourism. Monday to Friday it is struggling.”
Ms Gerber predicted “the ripple effects of COVID-19 threaten to wipe out many ailing businesses in my community” and they needed to be supported much like in a natural disaster.
“It requires the activation of targeted relief to kickstart the recovery of businesses impacted by border closures and COVID-19 restrictions. Do not get me wrong: there are businesses on the border doing really well, thriving in fact,” she said.
“These are businesses whose trade has been based in and filled by the Currumbin community. But there are tourism operators, just as there are in Cairns, who are on their knees that this government must also help.
“Quite frankly, part of the reason tourism businesses on the border are bleeding out is their proximity to the border. People are not coming close to the border because of the uncertainty around border closures.
“Just as Cairns is struggling to attract tourists by air, on the border businesses are also struggling to encourage people to visit.”Ms Gerber said the government losing major tourist events such as the WSL Corona Open to New South Wales did not help.“This is millions of dollars in lost revenue, and it is the businesses on the border that are bearing the brunt of this, suffering the cost of this choice by this government. This is no fictional television show. Winter is actually coming. These businesses need the state government to step up and support them with targeted relief,” she said.
Tourism leaders at a Southern Chamber of Commerce meeting held last Thursday were asked about the possibility of again hosting major events like the World Surfing League.
Mayor Tom Tate who attended the function told members he had been in private discussions with WSL Australian chief Andrew Stark.He soon learned the reason the event was lost to the Coast was not about funding from Tourism and Events Queensland but lack of assistance due to COVID-19 restrictions.
“I thought it was the money that TEQ was really shrinking, that’s why they made a business decision to move. But that wasn’t it,” Cr Tate said.
“The business decision they had to make because we couldn’t guarantee the COVID health part of it, the health plan.”
WSL bosses admitted they could spend millions of dollars planning the event and “the State Government can close the border a week out and no guarantee at all in the contract that they would be reimbursed”.
“The good news is it’s a short term decision. So as we are moving forward in 12 months I will be catching up with them. We absolutely want to bring it back. It’s not about budget. It’s about the COVID health plan,” Cr Tate said.
CATASTROPHIC COST OF LOST FUNDING ON COAST TOURISM
THE border closure and airport shutdown throughout 2020 cost the Gold Coast at least $1.8 billion in international tourist spending, as data reveals the “catastrophic” impact of COVID-19.
A report presented to council’s economic, tourism and events committee late in 2020 detailed how the impact of the pandemic on the Glitter Strip has been devastating, with the region doing worse than its tourism rivals.
The Coast had secured key new flights to Seoul and Japan, increased capacity to New Zealand and retained Scoot Airlines only for the international border closure on March 17 to cost an estimated $14 million per month.
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The Destination Gold Coast annual update explains how the Coast was about to have several million dollars poured into an Australia’s Favourite Playground campaign, but instead the city became “ground zero” for the tourism impact from COVID.
“The Gold Coast was enjoying a bumper summer period on the back of record-breaking visitation — $14.2 million up 13.5 per cent, and a 4.1 per cent increase in expenditure in 2019,” the DGC report said.
“Gold Coast Airport had celebrated its strongest December ever in terms of passenger volume and earlier indicators in January were exceptionally good for the region despite Australia’s black summer bushfires which were raging across the east coast.”
The closure of the borders was “catastrophic” and “the compounded events significantly impacted on the Gold Coast, with DGDC modelling estimating a loss of $1.8 billion in tourism expenditure FY20”.
The first hit was the disruption to Golden Week with the Chinese New Year starting on January 25, a peak travel time for Chinese visitors to Australia but positive COVID cases among their groups led to restrictions from February 1.
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Up until then the Coast was the third most popular destination for the Chinese, and widespread cancellations and 20 per cent drop in group bookings cost the local economy at least $40 million.
For the three months to March 2020, Tourism Research Australia date shows:
■ A 34.3 per cent decline in international visitors, down 173,000.
■ Domestic overnight interstate visitor numbers dropped by 17.8 per cent to 410,000.
■ Intrastate visitors numbers declined by 35.8 per cent to 342,000.
For the year-ending March 2020, international tourism expenditure was down by at least $1.3 billion.
Data is still being gathered, however the impact of the complete loss of visitors and expenditure for the three months from April to June can be revealed.
The accommodation industry saw a decrease in overall occupancy for the full financial year of 20.5 per cent, down to 55.8 per cent occupancy for the period, with revenue per room dropping by 19.5 per cent.
Private shared accommodation occupancy rates collapsed, down 42 per cent as the supply of listings contracted by almost 20 per cent.
Business events were impacted with 55 per cent of planned meetings from March postponed and 22 per cent cancelled.
The Gold Coast Airport saw a complete shutdown from April to June – and the 12 month figures reflect that with domestic visitors down 24.7 per cent to 4.1 million passengers and internationals decreasing by 28.8 per cent to more than 691,000 passengers.
DGC analysis found, for the 12 months to March, some big domestic visitor overnight increases of up to 8 per cent for North Queensland and Sydney while the Coast decreased by two per cent or more.
But the city still achieved positive domestic visitor expenditure per night, a 5.5 per cent growth to $241.
DGC in its report warns council that the Australia’s Favourite Playground tourism brand will need stronger campaigns and strategies in 2021 because “competition for a share of traveller’s wallets will be more intense than ever”.
The tourism body knows 2021 will be “pivotal” for the Coast and has a marketing strategy which aims to convert annual overseas Australian holidaymakers to become repeat visitors on the Coast.
“Although bouncing back to pre-COVID tourism levels make take a few years, the Gold Coast is well positioned to capitalise on its strong brand equity established over the past 60 years, and a market leader and preferred holiday destination,” the report said.
MP CALLS FOR NEW SCIENCE CENTRE
THE Gold Coast’s youngest LNP MP has again called for a new science centre to be the city’s new tourist attraction.
Bonney MP Sam O’Connor was named Shadow Minister for Environment and Great Barrier Reef, Shadow Minister for Science and Innovation and Shadow Minister for Youth in the LNP cabinet shake-up following its election loss.
The position will see him go head to head against Labor’s Gaven MP Meaghan Scanlon, who became Queensland’s youngest ever cabinet minister.
Mr O’Connor said the science centre, proposed for the Gold Coast Health and Knowledge Precinct, was one of multiple projects he had in mind.
“Now that we have a Gold Coast-based science minister, the State Government should put together a business case for our city to finally get a science centre,” he said.
“At the end of the day we’re all local members and I’ll keep advocating for all of the things I have been for the last four years.”
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He outlined a plan for the centre during a 2019 State Parliament speech, revealing the Gold Coast was the only major city in the country without its own science centre.
“The Gold Coast is one of the fastest-growing regions in the country, with a larger population than some of those cities, but it is missing out,” he said at the time.
“The health and knowledge precinct is missing a public face.
“If most people in the area, even people living in the neighbouring suburbs, were asked what the Gold Coast Health and Knowledge Precinct is, many of them would say they have no idea.”
Mr O’Connor joins Mudgeeraba MP Ros Bates and Surfers Paradise MP John-Paul Langbroek among Gold Coast MPs in the new Opposition leader David Crisafulli’s shadow cabinet.
He praised the Broadwater MP’s “new approach”, but admitted the party had a hard fight ahead after a stunning defeat in October.
“We’re under no illusions about just how hard it’s going to be,” he said.
“We have won one state election since 1986, so we’re very much up against it. We’ve got a lot of work to do to show we’re a credible alternative and we’re ready for government in 2024.
“I’m excited to be part of that and I really think David is taking the right tone. It’s going to be a long four years.”
Asked if he was keen to face off against Ms Scanlon he said: “I think people want (politicians) to be constructive, they don’t want us to be just throwing mud at each other.
“And that will extend to (Meaghan and I). If there’s things we like we’ll say that, if there’s things we don’t like we’ll say that too.
“It won’t be that usually argy-bargy.”
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