Surfers to focus on locals

SURFERS Paradise is trying to position itself as the business and tourism centre where locals want to go.

Stakeholders have been presented with economic baseline studies and a business precinct masterplan that outline the tourism hot spot’s strengths and opportunities.

Workshops wererun by council officers earlier this year in the lead-up to more public consultation for a draft masterplan next month.

The studies show Surfers Paradises is well positioned among all Coast precincts due to the amount of public and private parking, the light rail and proximity to the beach.

“More innovative retailers and businesses can be attracted to the area … (it can) develop as a genuine local centre where residents want to go,” the report said.

Research showed most of the office space in the city’s heart belonged to corporates, followed by the government sector and real estate agencies.

But the precinct’s major weaknesses were identified with key negatives being “the amount of vacant space” and “some poor quality buildings”.

The major threats to Surfers Paradise were topend retailers relocating to other centres and the lack of local investment, which meant “some areas are very daggy”.

Economic studies by RPS Australia East Pty Ltd last year found a 25 per cent vacancy rate in shopfront tenancies.

Since June 2016 there had been 180 changes to the retail and shopfront tenancies in Surfers Paradise, which was 16 per cent of all tenancies.

The dominant group were the 178 food service operators, including 21 coffee shops, 92 restaurants and 65 takeaways.

“There are 94 newly vacant tenancies and 44 previously vacant tenancies that are now occupied. Overall, there has been a net increase of 50 vacant tenancies,” the report said.

“While the extent of the overall change is unusual, it is the large and increasing number of vacancies in and around Elkorn Avenue that is apparent.”