Gold Coast theme parks take a hit in wake of Dreamworld tragedy

THE Gold Coast’s other theme parks have taken a hit after the deaths at Dreamworld this week, the region’s tourism boss has admitted.

THE tragedy at Dreamworld this week has rocked the tourism business across the Gold Coast, an industry leader says.

Gold Coast Tourism chief executive Martin Winter says the theme park industry across the region has suffered in the wake of Tuesday’s accident where four people died on the Thunder River Rapids ride.

Dreamworld has been shut since the accident occurred while the region’s other major theme parks — Movie World, Wet’n’Wild and Sea World — are also taking a hit, Mr Winter said.

“The other theme parks are impacted,” he said.

“They of course are going to be working very hard to make sure the impact is minimised.”

Mr Winter said a full assessment of the impact of the tragedy on the industry will be made in the coming weeks, but that was not the immediate focus.

“Our focus now is on grieving with the families and those people involved,” he said.

“Certainly as time goes on, we’ll be working out the impact of this.

“We’re very confident the future of the Gold Coast industry won’t be long-term affected.”

Members of the public pay tribute at Dreamworld on Friday. Picture: Tertius Pickard/Getty Images

Mr Winter said the use of theme parks in tourism promotions for the area would continue.

“Theme parks are fundamental to the DNA of the Gold Coast and we believe they’ll bounce back very strongly, but right now isn’t the time to be talking about that.”

The impact of the tragedy on the Gold Coast’s tourism industry comes as the CEO of Dreamworld’s owner Ardent Leisure admitted the company might not have handled the tragedy as well as it could have.

Deborah Thomas visited the theme park on Friday to see the floral tributes to the four people who were killed on the Thunder River Rapids ride on Tuesday.