Mobile phones put the power of a perfect holiday in the hand of Gold Coast visitors

MOBILE phone use by Gold Coast visitors has jumped from 15 per cent to 50 per cent in just two years, and tourism bodies expect it to climb further.

Visitors to the Gold Coast who see Geoff Stillman's Tiger Moth in the sky frequently use their smartphones to lo...

THE days of people sitting in front of their home computer to plan their holiday are over, with a new report showing about 50 per cent of Gold Coast visitors used their smart phone to research their trip on the run last year.

The figures, which showed mobile phone use by tourists had jumped 35 per cent in two years, were included in the Gold Coast Visitor Profile and Satisfaction Report produced by Tourism Research Australia.

The report also showed mobile phones were the most commonly used tool for researching and booking trips to the city, while concluding that visitors accessed search engines most commonly, followed by theme park and social media sites.

The figures were no surprise to Gold Coast tourism operator Jess Stillman, who owns Tiger Moth Joy Rides.

"We have people ring up regularly who see the tiger moth fly over Surfers Paradise beach and then look us up on their phone and book a flight," he said.

Mr Stillman, who has been operating the business since 1978, said companies like his had to keep adapting to change like the spike in smart phone and tablet use.

"It is easy for a little business like mine to get left behind," he said.

"But there are new things all the time and you have to keep up.

"Smart phones and tablets are the way of the future, there is no doubt about that."

Mr Stillman said social media sites like Instagram were also becoming more important.

Gold Coast Tourism spokesman Ben Pole said the organisation expected mobile phones to become an even more important tool for visitors in the next 12 months.

"We expect about 60 per cent of tourists coming here in 2014 to use mobile phones to make bookings or research their trip, but it could be higher than that," he said.

Mr Pole said most tourism operators on the Gold Coast were tech-savy and making the most of the opportunities created by the trend.

A good percentage of visitors to the city turn to Gold Coast Tourism's website, mobile site and mobile app and the organisation reported a 260 per cent jump in business leads created by the platforms in the past 12 months.

The Tourism Research Australia report also showed that more than half of visitors that used their phone or tablet while on the Gold Coast used apps to get directions.