Even spread

Getting tourism and events right will pay big dividends for the city’s economy in the future

Calendars are not sexy or inherently interesting to the general public but when it comes to tourism and events in this city, they are everything. The spread across the 12 months of the year of events has long been an issue of contention for operators.

Their chief complaints have been that too many events are clustered around specific weekends, forcing people to choose one over another, or leaving long gaps across the year with nothing on.

Empty blocks on the calendar meant fewer hotel rooms occupied and less money coming into the economy.

In essence, the Gold Coast was getting too much of a good thing occasionally and these events were cannibalising each other.

It hasn’t been a workable solution for anyone.

Now, with the problem recognised, things are finally starting to change under the new Experience Gold Coast entity.

Mayor Tom Tate has laid out his message to the tourism bosses and how the city can capitalise on our greatest assets.

“The enthusiasm is there, with the board and we have the synergy of promotion, education, events acquisition and homegrown events all under the one roof, so no longer will there be a day when Harry Styles or someone of that ilk is playing to 55,000 people at Carrara without any promotion for (our next big HOTA exhibition),” he said.

“The plan will be to have 12 marquee events every year, so one a month.

“Forget the 12 days of Christmas, the Gold Coast will have 12 months of events every year. We will be the events capital.”

That’s a solid plan and we are already seeing it start to bear fruit.

Greater cross-promotion between our biggest events is low-hanging fruit which will generate greater cyclical outcomes for the city.

Seeing this come into play during the recent Big Bash League game at Carrara was a welcome step.

It may not be obvious to the public what Experience Gold Coast has been doing but these important behind-the-scenes strategic steps are essential to our long-term success.