To sustain and grow our lifestyle we must be prepared to invest
WE have long recognized that levelling out a boom-bust economic cycle requires diversification of the city’s economic base by exploring and promoting emerging industries with growth potential. That said, it would be disastrous to lose focus on tourism, a key economic pillar that built and continues to sustain the Gold Coast.
Tourism permeates every aspect of our city’s economic security and growth.
The Gold Coast’s geographical position, natural beauty, weather and built assets has developed into one of the nation’s leading tourism destinations and created our small business capital.
While the Commonwealth Games had mixed results, the international exposure of our city, a city that has so much to offer, presents an opportunity to capitalise on the marketing potential that exposure created. There is no time for indecision, navel gazing or complacency.
It is time to challenge the naysayers and move forward with purpose by following those who built our city, those who dared to dream, who pushed the envelope and make their dreams a reality we benefit from today.
We live and must compete in a highly competitive global marketplace. To sustain and grow our lifestyle we must be prepared to invest, to build our future today as those before us built ours. This means building the hard infrastructure that connects our communities and businesses. It means broadening our tourism base, value adding with projects such as a cruise ship terminal, Hinterland cableway and diversification into other growth industries.
Our city sits on a thin strip of coastline nestled between the Coral Sea and the largest caldera in the Southern hemisphere. Our continent is one of the oldest landforms on the planet and our Hinterland presents unique flora and fauna that is available nowhere else. These are assets the whole world should be able to see and experience.
The Bulletin heralds in a ‘golden age’ for our city, an apt description of what could be. What remains is for all of us to recognize that opportunity and ‘make it so’.