At the risk of upsetting a large conservative chunk of his electorate, Gold Coast-based federal MP Steve Ciobo has suggested that the Gold Coast needs to turn on the razzle dazzle so it can compete with Las Vegas and Macau as a global entertainment hotspot. The Gold Coast Bulletin reports (More casinos and glitz the cure for Coast):

TURNING Surfers Paradise into a world-class entertainment precinct to rival Las Vegas and Macau has been touted as a way to save the Gold Coast from rising unemployment and economic doom.

Federal LNP MP Steve Ciobo has called for a radical rethink of the direction the Gold Coast is heading as the city struggles with massive job losses and a desperate tourism industry.

Mr Ciobo, whose Moncrieff electorate includes Surfers Paradise, said the city was in a stupor and needed to develop a new vision of itself so it could compete for tourists on a global level.

“Our problem is we are directionless. This city needs to be able to compete against places like Ibiza, Bali, Las Vegas and Macau,” he said.

“If we are going to be serious as a city about attracting not only domestic tourists but international tourists then they are the cities we have to measure up against.

“We need to be so much better and bigger than we are.”

Taking the low road and competing with Vegas and Macau is probably unnecessary. The Gold Coast may be in a slump at the moment, but that’s partly due to over-investment in property prior to the financial crisis. Eventually the over-supply of property – especially office accommodation – will be corrected, and the Coast construction sector will get moving again.

Obviously the high Australian dollar and events in Japan have had a depressing effect on tourism on the Gold Coast. But the Gold Coast may have to get used to it. Given the possibility of an extended resources boom and a high Aussie dollar – as long as China doesn’t crash – it may be that tourism will never again be the big driver of growth on the Coast, and the Coast needs to experience a prolonged period of adjustment to a new industry mix. This may involve an increase in the number of Gold Coasters who commute to and from work in Brisbane every day.

After all, given the emergence of the 200-kilometre city, as Peter Spearritt calls it, stretching from Noosa to the Tweed, the Gold Coast economy is much more heavily integrated with the economies of Brisbane, Logan, Ipswich and the Sunshine Coast than ever before.

With an enviable lifestyle and beautiful beaches, the Gold Coast has advantages compared with other SEQ council areas, and may attract households and businesses away from other areas if the slump keeps Gold Coast property prices down, making relocation to the Coast more attractive. Plus we’d anticipate that significant numbers of baby boomer retirees will find their way to the Gold Coast.

For these reasons I don’t think the Gold Coast should aim to compete with Vegas and Macau, and I doubt many Gold Coast residents would think it should either. My impression from the furore over the so-called party houses is that Gold Coasters can be pretty conservative folk. As such, it’s pleasing that Mr Ciobo was willing to float an idea that he believed to be in the Coast’s best interests, but which he probably knew would be unpopular.