Gold Coast Tourism Hit Hard by Severe Storms: Major Attractions Closed and Millions Lost

The usually bustling Gold Coast tourism industry has been left reeling after millions of dollars in closures and cancellations during its peak summer season. The region’s major attractions, including Dreamworld and Movie World, shut down on Tuesday as storms continued to ravage the area for a second week. The tourism sector, which is the region’s largest business sector, has been severely impacted.

Anthony Ardern, managing director of Tour Collective, estimated his business has lost around $200,000 since Christmas Eve. The company offers a range of activities, including snorkeling and jetski lessons, and had to reduce its capacity by 35% due to the weather. “We’re carrying 120 people a day, with $20,000 a day in revenue from that product. And we’ve lost four days from that already through storms and bad weather,” Ardern said.

The storms struck at the peak tourist season, which is the most important time of the year for the tourism industry. Ardern likened the situation to the old farmers’ saying “make hay while the sun shines.” This is when the tourism industry needs to make its hay, as it typically experiences a decline in February, March, and the next Easter holidays.

The Southern Gold Coast Chamber of Commerce’s vice-president, Zac Revere, estimated that the extreme weather would cost the region millions in cancelations alone. Revere said that as many as a third of Airbnb bookings were cancelling their reservations in the face of the constant storms.

The Queensland and federal governments have announced up to $250,000 in financial support available to businesses and primary producers to replace damaged assets or maintain liquidity. Disaster assistance loans are also available for affected businesses in the Gold Coast, Scenic Rim, and Logan City council areas.

The Australian defence force will deploy to the region on Thursday to aid in the cleanup. The small business minister, Lance McCallum, said the government is also releasing a natural disaster business survey to better understand the damage.

Despite the gloomy outlook, business groups welcomed the announcement. Meanwhile, thousands of residents are still without power. Electrician Ben Henry said that Energex plans to remove and replace the entire grid in areas such as Cedar Grove, rather than repair it, due to the extensive damage.

The local childcare centre is closed, and there has been a run on generators. Henry described the situation as “very daunting.” Thousands of residents are trying to adapt to the new normal, with traffic lights in areas including Jimboomba and Beaudesert shut down.

Ironically, the tourism industry had expected this summer to provide a relatively strong start to the year. Business Chamber Queensland spokesperson Emma Clarke said that their surveys showed that the tourist sector in Cairns and the Gold Coast had among the highest confidence in the state ahead of the December quarter.

Despite the challenges, Clarke encouraged people to visit the disaster-affected areas to help spur on recovery. She noted that while the power may be back on and the immediate cleanup and recovery work has finished, the financial recovery takes much longer.