Diving attraction to lead tourism boom
... and beach bars to lift city’s growing appeal
THE Gold Coast could become home to the world’s top artificial dive site and best beach bars as part of a plan to cash in on the city’s most famous assets.
Plans for an underwater dive precinct are finally gathering momentum while trials of beachfront bars – previously a no-go zone on the Gold Coast, have so far delivered encouraging results that city leaders hope to serve as a prototype for the future.
Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate has long championed plans for a dive attraction, which is now finally set to become a reality after a $5 million investment jointlyfunded by the City Council and State government.
The dive market is seen as a particularly lucrative sector of the tourism industry as it is an expensive hobby generally favoured by big-spending travellers.
Tenders for the project, to initially feature a structure set in 30 metres of water located 2.5km off Main Beach have closed with a successful contractor expected to be announced within weeks.
It is hoped the attraction will be operating within three years with scope for future phases to include an underwater memorial garden, an art gallery sculpture trail off Wavebreak Island and potentially an aviation or aircraft attraction.
Cr Tate said the Gold Coast’s planned dive precinct could continue to evolve over the next 10 to 15 years, making it the world’s premier destination for artificial dive sites.
“It has previously been common practice to scuttle retired warships to become dive attractions, but we don’t want to follow other cities — that is why we want to see an eco-engineered structure that fast tracks the growth and attraction of marine life,” he said. “My vision is to see this dive precinct expand to also include an underwater memorial cemetery, where (people’s) ashes are mixed in with environmentally-friendly materials.
“It would be the largest artificial dive precinct in the world.”
The Middle East and parts of the Americas are among the world’s leading destinations for artificial dive attractions.
Beach bars, common in other parts of the world, have long been considered a no-go zone on the Gold Coast, but that position has softened, with several trials in recent months including last year’s Surfers Paradise Festival and Bleach at Burleigh Heads in April.
Destination Gold Coast CEO Annaliese Battista said the region already owned the mantle of the country’s top beach destination, but needed to continue to evolve.
“We will probably never be known for the high arts or culture, at least not in my time, and we will probably never lose being known as a beach destination and that’s fine,” she said.
“The beach is now more the setting of a much broader Gold Coast experience and the opportunity to add-value through beachside dining and bars is one that should be further explored,” she said.
“Dive tourism and the potential to grow that offering in years to come, will likely attract domestic and international high-yield travellers, who we know spend more in destination than the average visitor.”
MY VISION IS TO SEE THIS DIVE PRECINCT EXPAND TO ALSO INCLUDE AN UNDERWATER MEMORIAL CEMETERY MAYOR TOM TATE