Life"s no beach on the Gold Coast

Damaged walkways at Miami Beach. Picture: Gold Coast Bulletin

EASTER tourists will have to find things to do other than go to the beach, say tourism bosses, as the Gold Coast city council delays moves to repair erosion damage.

With hundreds of thousands of tourists expected here for the Easter break in late March, the city will be without its main drawcard after this month’s wild weather.

The Gold Coast City Council yesterday resisted major restoration of the badly battered beaches until April – too late for tourism operators and retailers looking to cash on the traditionally lucrative Easter holidays.

Tourism bosses last night backed council decision, saying it was “doing what it can, when it can”, and the closure of beaches due to the poor weather had a “minimal” effect on tourism.

But they are at odds with tourist-based businesses which say the erosion has already had an adverse effect which will only become worse in the lead-up to Easter.

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All Coast beaches have been damaged by big seas and wild winds, with the worst erosion damage from Main Beach to Miami where sand cliffs have been carved out.

Mayor Tom Tate yesterday said the council had allocated $800,000 to dredge 60,000 cubic metres of sand from the Broadwater.

Weather on the Gold Coast continues to thrash the beaches causing more erosion. Picture: Gold Coast Bulletin

Of this, 20,000 cubic metres would be dumped on to Surfers Paradise beach in mid-April. The remaining sand would be stockpiled for emergency use.

The mayor said a long-term fix to the beach erosion problems would only be looked at after those “nourishment works”.

“The reality is that beaches are a natural phenomenon and we will forever struggle with Mother Nature,” he said.
Gold Coast Airport boss Paul Donovan commended the council’s actions, saying: “You’ve got to plan these things.

He said the beach was not the only drawcard for tourists.

“People come to the Gold Coast for lots of reasons, not only the beaches, but obviously seeing the images they’re splashing across the television may deter people from coming here.

Beach erosion in the Main Beach and Narrowneck area’s of the Gold Coast.

“Obviously it’s a major drawcard but there’s a lot of other things to do.”

Gold Coast Tourism chief executive Martin Winter said visitors would return before too long.

“This has come during an off-peak period and after an excellent summer holiday season, with both weather and visitors performing well for the Gold Coast,” he said.

“With a return to good weather and still a medium lead period into the important Easter holiday season, we expect the current impact on the Gold Coast’s $4.5 billion tourism economy to be noticeable, but minimal.”

Gold Coast Surf Academy owner Johnny Preston said the damaged beaches had put a huge dent in his business and urged the council to come up with a faster and better solution.

“The council can patch it up but they need to come up with long-term repairs,” he said.

“It’s got a huge flow-on effect.”

 

Life"s no beach on the Gold Coast