Revealed: What Gold Coasters think about ditching the famous ‘Glitter Strip’ name

The chair of a council entity Brand GC wants to ditch the ‘Glitter Strip’ catchcry. But some Gold Coasters love it and say it signifies what’s magnificent about the place. VOTE IN OUR POLL

Aerial view of the stunning Gold Coast skyline on a sunny day, Queensland, Australia

For decades, that magnetic stretch of the Gold Coast beachfront skyline - stretching from Surfers Paradise to Broadbeach - has been known as the Glitter Strip.

But new council controlled entity Brand Gold Coast’s first chair Melissa Donnelly is calling to retire it, saying the Glitter Strip “is not who we really are”.

The marketing and branding supremo - whose clients have spanned Abu Dhabi’s royal family, Telstra Mobile, MTV and Microsoft - said: “Describing the Gold Coast as ‘the Glitter Strip’ or ‘tourism capital’ is easy but it’s not who we really are. At best, it’s a tiny fraction of who we are.

“The City of Gold Coast has acknowledged we have a brand problem, there is brand confusion.

“It’s not terrible, but it is a sort of identity crisis, and our job is to explore that, reshape the story and the narrative of the city.”

But longserving Surfers Paradise MP John-Paul Langbroek said Glitter Strip “signifies who we are as a city”.

“It’s not that we are all completely Glitter Strip. The Glitter Strip is the front part, it’s magnificent and it signifies what we are. It’s why people love to come. You just can’t change it because someone says, ‘I don’t like it’,” he said.

Minister for Education and State Member for Surfers Paradise John-Paul Langbroek. Picture: Glenn Campbell

“I’m very proud to represent it, and it’s called the Glitter Strip, and it’s going to be like that for as long as people want to call it that.

“I’d like to hear what the alternative is because it’s suggesting somehow the Glitter Strip is not a very good thing.

“[It’s] probably the closest we’ve got to Las Vegas and what do we all want to do? We all want to go to Vegas.

“I’m very supportive of all of the things that are growing. We are much more than development, tourism and retail.

“We’ve expanded to health and education but whether you’re eight or 80, people love coming here because it’s a place of excitement and it’s fantastic.”

“We’re the equivalent of Miami and Las Vegas, it’s our version, and we’re proud of it.”

Mayor Tom Tate said: “The Glitter Strip is a part of who we are and where we have come from, and now we are so much more than that.

“We should celebrate our history and look forward to our bright and golden future.”

Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate. Picture: Adam Head

Artesian Hospitality founder Matthew Keegan - a Surfers Paradise nightclub and bars kingpin - said he understood wanting to move away from the term but the city shouldn’t be shy to embrace it either.

“It is undeniable we are an entertainment and tourism mecca, as far as Australia is concerned,” he said.

“In terms of describing it as the Glitter Strip, I can see positives and negatives to that description.

Matt Keegan at his Cali Beach Club in Surfers Paradise. Picture: Nigel Hallett

“I understand there could be a desire to move away from it, but the question really is, what does it look like next, and what do we describe it as.

“I’d be concerned if, as the Gold Coast, we were trying to distance ourselves from what is the fabric of our true identity. I’m happy for us to embrace the other parts of the Gold Coast that perhaps don’t get enough acknowledgment.

“We do have beautiful hinterland areas. We do have an amazing way of life. A lot of that is overshadowed, sometimes by historical misconceptions of what the Gold Coast is.

“I’m all for a rebranding of the Gold Coast, because it does need to be rebranded. It’s important that we’re rebranding in the right direction.”