Just call us ‘events city’

Games venues booked solid for rest of the year

GOLD Coast sporting venues built or upgraded for the Commonwealth Games are booked for the rest of 2018 with national and international events.

Of 102 championships and functions confirmed between now and December, 32 are at national or international level.

The new figures, released to the Bulletin by the office of Tourism Industry Development Minister Kate Jones, also show “booking hours” at new or upgraded Games venues will double from 25,779 for the 2017-18 financial year to 51,561 for the 2018-19 year.

Ms Jones said it was a great post-Games result and proved more than $300 million invested by State Government in venue infrastructure was already paying off.

“We bid for the Games because we wanted to strengthen the Gold Coast’s reputation as a major events destination.

“We have had unprecedented interest from sporting organisations around the world, keen to bring events to the Coast,” Ms Jones said.

“We’ll continue to leverage the Commonwealth Games to secure events to ensure taxpayers are getting value for money out of this great event.”

The Australian University Games, attracting 9000 participants and injecting $11.6m into the economy, has locked in the Gold Coast as host for four of its next five events.

It will return this year, next year, 2021 and 2022.

Other highlights include the Queensland Firebirds netball team taking on the Melbourne Vixens at the Gold Coast Sports and Leisure Centre on July 7.

The country’s squash club champs, judo nationals and Mountain Bike Australia national series legs are also all coming to the Gold Coast.

Assistant Tourism Industry Development Minister and Member for Gaven Meaghan Scanlon added: “The Commonwealth Games proved to the world that the Gold Coast is one of the best destinations to host sport in the world.”