So what that the Gold Coast won the Commonwealth Games

November 19, 2011 in Rants & Raves
Tags: Commonwealth Games, Gold Coast, infrastructure, personal opinion, politics, public transport, Queensland, roads, tourism

The Gold Coast, if you hadn’t heard, recently won the right host the 2018 Commonwealth Games.

There was the usual hype about it with the mainstream media outlets covering it on television, insisting that they cut back to the latest news from the announcement.  Of course the announcement were met with scenes of jubilation, and why not. The people behind the bid and the organisers can rightfully hold their heads high for helping the Gold Coast win the 2018 Commonwealth Games.

However, I really wonder if anyone seriously cares about it.

I can’t help but think that this is another attraction in a city that already has too many attractions for its own good.

I’m sure that the local retailers and traders will be very happy. Anyone can imagine the local Gold Coast Chamber of Commerce being very pleased with the announcement. No doubt they contributed handsomely to the bid for the Games. No doubt the local tourism industry is very happy with the announcement. It means a good boost with the potential for return bookings from people that come for the Games.

Though with the necessary facilities being thin on the ground on the Coast, venues in Brisbane and Townsville will be used.  This is even after the expansion of national football teams into the Gold Coast. This will undoubtedly expand the problems for organisers but create a boom for South East Queensland building and construction. There will be new infrastructure needed for sporting venues, as well as transport infrastructure to deal with the expected influx of visitors. The usual (re-)construction that comes with such events will ensure that a lot of people are employed for a few years.

While there are some very happy people about the announcement, I doubt this is something shared by many more people.

This event, this spectacle will have a significant impact on local residents, as well as interrupt interstate travel. It will add a significant strain on the public transport infrastructure, as well as the areas’ road network and highway system.  Undoubtedly those living and working in exclusion zones will come to loathe the harrassment from security and police as they try to go about their daily business. People trying to commute to and from work will invariably experience major delays as different parts of the ‘city’ are cordoned off. And I don’t think that using public transport will save you from said delays.

While the tourism industry may talk up the benefits of hosting the Commonwealth Games, this will only be a short-lived gain. It’s highly unlikely that there will be a significant amount of return business, that most tourism vendors expect – or at least proclaim loudly.  Just think about the last couple of cities to host the Commonwealth Games; they’re hardly drowning in the tourists that showed up because the city hosted the Commonwealth Games. Though you have to love the tenacious and authoritative manner in which industry lobbyists proclaim such events’ booms for local tourism years after the event (when no-one can say definitively it was or wasn’t because of x event).

I don’t think the local homeless population will be very happy. They will be rounded up and pushed out to anywhere else other than the Gold Coast.

Perhaps the announcement of the Gold Coast winning the bid for the 2018 Commonwealth Games could produce one good outcome; the cleaning up of the seedy side of the Gold Coast, and Cavill Avenue in particular.

What are your thoughts about it? Leave a comment; vote in the poll.

Note: Before you start complaining about a Victorian rubbishing the Gold Coast getting the Commonwealth Games, you should know that I’m a former Queenslander, often experiencing the offerings of the Gold Coast. My preference is the hinterlands which is far  more pleasant.

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