UK, Japan in sights

TOURISM leaders want to resell the Gold Coast to the UK and Japan in the next step towards re-establishing the city as Australia’s visitor capital.

Tourism and Events Queensland (TEQ) and Destination Gold Coast are taking a long-term approach to reviving the industry, worth more than $6bn pre-Covid, with the focus on luring new visitors as well as continuing to focus on the domestic market.

With visitors from the city’s biggest pre-Covid international market – China – not expected to return until 2024 at least, the focus is turning to other markets to underline the revival.

Destination Gold Coast chair Adrienne Readings said the city was “match fit”.

“We are coming out of the boxes very quickly on the back of a very successful Easter and we want to get back to the era of 2019, which was a huge success for the Gold Coast,” she said.

“China is unlikely to be back until 2024 so there is no question that we will be relying more on the domestic market going forward while we build up our international access. We will be looking to the US, UK and Japan to support us internationally in the immediate future.”

TEQ chairman Brett Godfrey said the Gold Coast had enjoyed a “stonking” Easter period on the back of pent-up demand from domestic visitors after two years of Covid lockdowns and border closures.

However, he warned the city could face a backwards step if conditions took a turn for the worse.

“Hopefully it will stay but we do have to be cognisant that if we do not get this right, the people who did stay and play here will go overseas now the borders are open,” he said.

“We need to think a little outside the box. The Gold Coast is a fabulous package but it’s more than just the coast, it has the hinterland too.

“We have to start thinking about all the experiences, including those that people do not know about.”

Mr Godfrey said a state government panel was reviewing tourist attractions that could be better promoted.

The first plank of the industry rebuild was unveiled in March with Gold Coaststyle

hotel rooms recreated in one of Disney’s Tokyo hotels to help sell the tourism mecca to the highly lucrative Japanese market.

Ms Readings said travel would not return in the same way as its pre-2020 habits.

“The world looks very different at the moment so it is about making sensible decisions rather than knee-jerk reactions,” she said.

“A lot of planning is going on both with TEQ and the Gold Coast. We’ve been working on our strategies and built up our team to best support this.”