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The Southern Gold Coast has experienced one of its busiest starts to the Winter season in history with an estimated 80-100,000 visitors flooding into the Southern Gold Coast for the annual Cooly Rocks On nostalgia festival from 31 May to 10 June. CEO of Connecting Southern Gold Coast, Peter Doggett, said the organisation was pleased to be a major sponsor of the event and their continuing support of Cooly Rocks On was highly likely based on the success of this year’s festival. Preliminary reports indicate it was a bumper season for Southern Gold Coast accommodation providers, with local hotels, restaurants and retail stores also sharing the benefits of the huge influx of Cooly Rocks On visitors. “It was great to see the streets of Coolangatta packed to overflowing. Many people I spoke to came to Cooly Rocks On for the first time this year and were amazed at the atmosphere, the cars and the music, and were dazzled by the sheer size and scope of the festival and the numbers it attracts. “This clearly demonstrates that the Southern Gold Coast has the capacity and infrastructure required for large scale events,” said Peter Doggett. “During Cooly Rocks On, the Southern Gold Coast easily catered for tens of thousands of visitors with accommodation and entertainment, so the future looks bright for more major sporting and cultural events to come our way,” he added. Garry McKenzie, General Manager at Dreamtime Resorts, which manage two properties in Coolangatta – Reflections Towers 1 and 2 – said occupancies were up on last year, with all 110 rooms fully booked during the main days of the Festival. “Five days at high season rates with full occupancy during May and June is unheard of at any of our other Gold Coast resorts. Cooly Rocks On is a roaring success and it is getting better and growing stronger with each year,” said Garry. “When people come and stay with us over the Christmas holidays, we often don’t hear from them again until the following November, when they are once again looking for accommodation in peak season. “Cooly Rocks On is an exception, and is probably the only Gold Coast event that people attend and immediately rebook for the next year. Our resorts are already at 30 percent occupancy for Cooly Rocks On 2014 and we have no doubt we will book out again.” Garry says the uniqueness of Cooly Rocks On is that “it is all about people”. “Unlike other Gold Coast events that require months of infrastructure building and road closures, Cooly Rocks On quietly slips into the region for a specific period each year and then moves on until the next year. “There are no massive disruptions – it’s just all about the people. The people are the attraction,” he said. “It shows what can be done when organisers, despite having a limited budget, work smarter not harder, and create an event that drives massive tourism numbers and brings benefits to an entire region.” Plans are already underway for Cooly Rocks On 2014 from 30 May to 9 June, with many other Southern Gold Coast sporting and cultural events planned to bring thousands more people to the region. The Swell Sculpture Festival will take place at Currumbin and surrounding Southern Gold Coast locations from 13-22 September; Coolangatta Gold 19-20 October; Australian Stand Up Paddleboard Titles at Currumbin 7 – 10 November; Kirra Kite Festival 13-17 November; International Rugby 5’s at Kirra Beach on 23-24 November, Bleach 2014 from 7-23 March; and Opera on the Beach from 9-11 May 2014. Dates will soon be announced for the Australian Body Boarding Championships, which will take place on the Southern Gold Coast in March 2014. |
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