Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate reveals major plans for 2021
New major rock concerts and improved house prices are just some of the things Gold Coasters can look forward to this year as Mayor Tom Tate reveals all.
Gold Coast
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BULLISH Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate says it is time to say goodbye to the Year of Trials and hello to the Year of Opportunity as 2021 dawns.
With 2020, the most challenging year in the city’s history now consigned to the past but the COVID-19 pandemic still very much at the forefront of the agenda, the focus is turning to how reinvigorate the economy and prepare the city for an influx of new residents as southerners abandon their COVID-ravaged states.
“The Gold Coast is the envy of Australia but also the world,” Cr Tate said in the lead-up to New Year’s Eve.
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“We are now listed at No. 14 on ReTrack as one of the world’s most desirable cities to live in and I want to push for the Coast to be well inside the top 10.”
Cr Tate, leading demographers and developers have all cited the city’s “enviable” lifestyle, strong property market and being free of COVID-19 making it a highly desirable place to live.
Gold Coast real estate agents have for months been flooded with inquiries from Victorians and New South Welshmen keen to make the sea change earlier than planned on the back of COVID lockdowns. One removalist company recorded a 235 per cent increase in inquiries about moving to the city from Victoria.
Leading real estate agents say upward of 75 per cent of bidders at recent auctions came from interstate.
Ray White Surfers Paradise have reported getting upward of 10,000 rental inquiries a month, up from 3500 this time last year.
But Cr Tate said more was needed to be done to revamp the economy and make the city even more desirable.
“2020 was a year of trial for the Gold Coast but with adversity comes opportunity and 2021 will be our year of opportunity,” he said.
“It was a rough year but we are going to come back bigger and better because there are so many new chapters we will be opening in 2021, we are the whole works.
“Apart from Guns’n’Roses we have some major concerts to be announced, while some events we were working on are not just the traditional music and dance shows.
“We are looking to diversify the annual events calendar to include signature events, whether it is hot air ballooning, air shows, water-based events or family drawcards.”
Cr Tate said his 2021 wishlist included:
* Resurrecting the city’s international relationships program and bringing back its foreign students and lucrative tourists;
* Stepping up support for the lucrative superyacht industry;
* Settling the City Plan;
* Launching the dive site in July;
* Activate the Gold Coast’s stadiums, particularly Robina’s Cbus Super Stadium which Cr Tate called a “major underused asset”.
“I will lead the international program again once we have clear air from COVID-19 and can allow for transit without the need for 14-day quarantine periods at either end. We cannot afford that,” he said.
“In 2021 the Gold Coast will have around 180 superyacht berths and I believe this is a sleeper industry in a sense, so our goal is to be the number one port of call.”
The Gold Coast’s $6 billion tourism industry was left devastated by the COVID-19 pandemic, losing upward of $4 billion, with visitors largely cut off from the city.
Hopes for a bumper Christmas season were cut short after just 11 days in December when the Sydney Northern Beaches outbreak forced the closure of the borders again.
Each year, Greater Sydney injects more than $225 million into the Coast’s economy during the summer period.
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Destination Gold Coast chairman Paul Donovan said he entered 2021 with a bullish attitude and confidence in the city’s future, citing that the Chinese word for crisis also meant opportunity.
He insisted his hopes for the year were centred not on himself but on the Gold Coast.
“Some people go on about needing to lose weight but I am happy with myself, I’m fully focused on the city and our kids,” he said.
“It is all about making sure our kids and grandkids can realise there dreams right here in this city of dreams.
“What we need most in 2021 is clear air from COVID-19 and for all airlines to be able to fly here to the best holiday destination in the world.”
The Gold Coast business community is battling to get back on its feet and facing a challenging 2021 as the Federal Government winds back the financial support it rolled out at the height of the pandemic’s first stage.
With JobKeeper set to end in March, business leaders are bracing for a range of closures.
Gold Coast Central Chamber of Commerce president Martin Hall said he hoped the business community would be consulted on decisions impacting on its future this year.
“We need a more co-operative approach going forward and to see more consultation,” he said.
“Getting more love will be the main thing going forward and ultimately we want to see a fully functioning economic development policy.”
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