Andrew Bell’s Market Update: How Tourism Drives The Gold Coast Economy

MARKET WRAP: Issue 18 September 1st, 2016

Great to have you with us and coming to you from a Midshipman Court, Paradise Waters home with one of the most desirable northern point positions. It also just happens to be the home of our Mayor, Tom Tate. It’s a terrific honour to market such a unique property and indeed to have Matt Gates and Ray White Prestige to be selected amongst all of the real estate companies here on the Gold Coast to market this home. For a man with a great eye for real estate, it was indeed a huge accreditation.

This northern point gives the home this unique aspect through the Main River and across to the beautiful playing fields of the TSS school. Ideal for protection for a boat out the front here, where you’re on the Main River and out into the Broadwater in minutes. We’ll have a look right through the home shortly.

Property Video – Midshipman Court, Paradise Waters

How Tourism Drives The Gold Coast Economy

Let’s look at one aspect of the Gold Coast and that is the amazing results in tourism. It’s a huge driver of the Gold Coast economy contributing $1 in every $5.

One of the best measures of tourism is arrivals at the Gold Coast Airport. It was a spectacular calendar 2015 with 6 million passengers arriving at Gold Coast Airport, however, that is going to be well and truly outdone in this current year, where we see that in the financial year to the 30^th June, 6.3 million passengers passed through the airport. That’s up 7.5% from a year earlier. Whilst 80% of our visitors are national, the biggest growth has come from the international which grew by 18% in the last year. For the first time ever, we surpassed 1 million international visitors. New Zealand is still our largest market however China is expected to overtake New Zealand in the next year.

No surprise that this places enormous pressure on our airport, which is already averaging 400 inbound services per week. Work has commenced on the first stage on a $300 million expansion that will double the size of the airport. It’s a new three-level terminal to the south existing facility and will be completed ahead of the Commonwealth Games. The second stage, which will begin after the Games, will involve the full redevelopment of the existing terminal.

We often forget how important the drive market is. You’d be surprised how many people drive from Sydney, Melbourne and other parts of Australia, and most definitely our biggest market is Brisbane. The number of overnight arrivals from Brisbane increased 8% to 1.3 million in the last year.

The total tourism industry currently brings into the economy some $4 billion but Gold Coast Tourism believes it can hit an ambitious $7 billion target by 2020.

You can only imagine how this tourist income injection into our economy would grow when we get our cruise ship terminal. The sooner the better

There is so much that the Gold Coast has been doing in recent times to make it an even more popular destination. Much more restaurants, more recreational options and, of course, the renovation of Pacific Fair has boosted us as a shopping destination.

In fact, Trip Advisor independently did a ranking assessment and the Gold Coast has now overtaken Melbourne as the second most-favoured visitor destination in Australia. Second, of course, to Sydney. Trip Advisor ranking says that visitor reviews on their site monitors tourist demands and it highlights Surfers Paradise and Burleigh Beaches plus the Sky Point Climb to the top of Q1 as don’t miss activities. Surfers Paradise Beach ranked third best in Australia behind Whitehaven and Manly in Sydney.

Tourism is so important to Gold Coast real estate, simply because when tourists come to our region they instantly fall in love with the area and this translates into many choosing to invest, or indeed move to the area. A high proportion of our sales are out of town visitors and they do play a major part in supporting the Gold Coast property market.

Want To WIN CASH!?

This weekend is our Muscular Dystrophy Charity Ball on Saturday night, which we invite you to participate in our CASH DRAW!

The cash draw will be drawn on the night of the event and whatever the total value of the tickets sold, that money is split 50% with the Muscular Dystrophy Charity and 50% with the winner of the draw. Who knows what that amounts to, whether it’s $5,000, $10,000 or more? What a fantastic opportunity!

To enter this draw simply buy tickets here, which will place you into the cash draw. We didn’t want to exclude anyone who couldn’t make it to the ball. If you have any questions, please get in touch with Selena Carson (s.caron@rwsp.ner or 0410 650 185).

Good luck!

Thank you again for all of your support around the Muscular Dystrophy Ball. We look forward to raising much needed funds for these young children affected with this dreaded disease. We will be posting live updates to our Facebook and Instagram account, so make sure you head over and like them to keep up to date.

Until next fortnight, every happiness to you.

Kind regards,
Andrew Bell, OAM
Chief Executive Officer
The Ray White Surfers Paradise Group