11 December 2008

Gold Coast down but not out

GOLD COAST - International visitors to the Gold Coast fell by 2.7 percent, while international visitor spend increased 1.1 percent during the toughest year for AustraliaÃ¢â¬â¢s tourism industry in recent times.

Gold Coast Tourism CEO Martin Winter said more than 817,800 international tourists spent more than A$948 million on the Gold Coast last year, according to figures released by Tourism Research Australia.

Ã¢â¬ÅâœThe Gold Coast has held its own during a period which has been extraordinarily challenging for all businesses across all parts of Australia, understandably national, state and regional international visitor numbers have been impacted,Ã¢â¬~ he said.

Ã¢â¬ÅâœTimes will get better, and with the tactical marketing activity of Gold Coast Tourism, introduction of more airline access into the city, investment in new or upgraded tourism assets and a unified tourism industry we will be better placed than any other destination in Australia to see through the tough times and capitalise when the turn around comes,Ã¢â¬~ Winter said.

The best performing international source markets by visitor number were New Zealand, Japan and China, but of those three only China showed an increase on 2007 figures.

Other figures show that Australia overall saw 16,000-plus fewer international tourists in October as the effects of the financial crisis began to bite.

International travellers totalled 451,800 in October 2008, Australian Bureau of Statistics figures show.

The biggest slump was from Japanese tourists, with 12,600 fewer visiting - a drop of 27 per cent.