THE Gold Coast has been named China’s favourite western city and the fourth most popular destination in the world in a poll of more than 3.6 million tourists.
The city declared the best in the west at the annual Destination of the Year awards announced in Shanghai late last night.
Thailand’s Phuket topped the list, with Seoul and Bangkok rounding out the top three.
The Gold Coast placed fourth in a vote by 3.6 million Chinese tourists and 50 million online comments and was the only western city to place in the top 10, beating out Paris, New York and London.
The second-highest placed Australian city was Sydney, coming in at 18.
The poll was conducted by Ctrip, One of China’s leading travel agents and its figures have been welcomed by city and tourism industry leaders.
Gold Coast Tourism chairman Paul Donovan said he was overcome by the news, which he said put the city on the front foot as a world destination.
“This is such a vote of confidence in the city and it shows the Chinese market is so strong and why the numbers just keep growing so significantly,” he said.
“It is an endorsement of the city by the biggest outbound tourism market in the world which everyone is chasing and to be the only western city recognised is just amazing.
“We are growing exponentially and at the same time we are seeing it is not just shopping tours coming here any more, it is a wide range of tourists and they are spending big-time.”
Latest figures show the Gold Coast attracts more than 27 per cent of Australia’s Chinese visitors, or around 295,000 people. This figure increased by 33 per cent in 2016.
It comes just a week after Gold Coast Tourism launched its latest marketing push designed to shed the city’s “Glitter Strip” image.
Mr Donovan said the accolade was the result of a renewed push in recent years to bolster the Chinese market, including new direct flights and several annual trips to China to discuss new business.
Queensland Airports Chief executive Chris Mills and Gold Coast-based federal Trade Minister Steven Ciobo are both in China this week and Mr Donovan will fly to Beijing next month.
The tourism chairman said the status as China’s favourite western city bolstered efforts to expand the city’s offering of attractions and services and would add momentum to $3 billion plans to build an integrated resort and casino at The Spit.
Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate has led several mayoral missions to China in the past five years and said the market had a strong appetite for the city.
“I am not surprised by the remarkable figures coming out of China because we have worked heavily to promote the idea that the Gold Coast is just ‘one sleep’ from mainland China, so far as direct flights go,” he said.
“The work done via our mayoral missions to china and the UAE is paying dividends, backed by exceptional work led by Gold Coast Airport and Destination GC.”
In the past two years direct flights have begun from Hong Kong and Wuhan to the Gold Coast, with others connecting to Brisbane.
Cashed-up Chinese investors have also moved into the city and begun building a series of high-end developments targeted at both the China and international market.
These include the $1.2 billion Spirit Tower in Surfers Paradise which will become the southern hemisphere’s tallest, the ASF integrated resort and the Star Entertainment Group’s $850 million redevelopment of Jupiters Casino to add two new towers.
State Tourism Minister Kate Jones welcomed the news and said Gold Coast was going from strength-to-strength as a destination.
“In total we welcomed 485,000 visitors from China to Queensland in 2016 which was a real turning point for us because it reaffirmed that the future of our tourism industry is absolutely linked to the growing Chinese market,” she said.
“This shows that our investment in growing the Chinese market is paying off and is the right thing to do because it’s supporting jobs and growing our economy.”
Ms Jones said the Gold Coast recorded a 16 per cent increase in international visitors in the year ending September 2016, which was a record high.
Source: The Gold Coast Bulletin 22 February 2017
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