Commonwealth Games ‘ghost towns’ happened elsewhere says GOLDOC CEO Mark Peters

GOLDOC CEO Mark Peters said he knew of similar ‘ghost town’ effects during the Commonwealth Games.

GOLDOC CEO Mark Peters has confirmed he was aware of potential “dead zones” for businesses during the Commonwealth Games.

Speaking to ABC Gold Coast radio this morning, Mr Peters was asked if he knew of business “slow downs” to occur at other events, similar to those experienced across the Gold Coast during the games.

“London (Olympics) for the first couple of days, I think that is what happened here, people are wary,” Mr Peters said.

“Some businesses did extremely well, but we are hearing from a number now saying they didn’t do well during those eleven days and some people are talking about Easter which, there is not much we can do about that — it is just the time of the year it wasn't how it worked.

“Our expectation was that is wasn’t going to be quiet to the point of what you are saying here,” he said.

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The CEO who was in charge of the Get Set for the Games planning and messaging said he found the “hysteria” over the traffic “interesting”.

“What I find interesting is the hysteria leading into the games about how gridlock and everything will happen through various sources including (the) media,” he said.

“It actually worked brilliantly. Over 5 Million people went on public transport, unheard of on the Gold Coast,” he said.

GOLDOC CEO Mark Peters becoming emotional as he talks to staff as the headquarters begins its pack down. Picture: Jerad Williams

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Mr Peters didn’t explain why businesses weren’t warned about the risk of ghost towns during the event.

Instead Mr Peters stated the role of the Get Set for the Games team was “to talk about what the opportunities were, and maybe get people to think differently if there was chaos”.

“The Get Set program was out there talking to people and businesses to be prepared on what you do, don’t do, and how you do it and supplies,” he said.

“The question is did that scare too many people together with media outlets talking about disaster — You can’t know that,” Mr Peters said.

“There is interesting challenges with the business was where are you in the state of what you want to do and not do,” he said.

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GOLDOC CEO Mark Peters and Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games Corporation Chairman Peter Beattie. Picture: Jerad Williams

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The GOLDOC CEO however stopped short of confirming if compensation for businesses will be considered.

“We need to look at what actually happened and whether eleven days actually caused issues or didn’t cause issues,” Mr Peters said.

“We obviously read about some business, and one of the great challenges of running a world event is we need to celebrate as a city far more and the positives of what came out,” he said.