Economic Strategy

Diversifying our city’s economy has been a key focus of Council for the past decade.

From our traditional economic base of tourism and construction, we have worked hard to broaden our industries to include film, health and knowledge, IT, marine, manufacturing and sport.

Diversifying our economy helps the city manage external pressures from a global perspective and sets us up for a stronger, more resilient future.

The Economic Strategy 2022-2027 is a roadmap for how we will work with local business, industry groups and other levels of government to realise opportunities and strengthen our economy.

We recognise that the ‘jobs of the future’ are still being discovered and we want to be best placed to capitalise on opportunities.

With a clear focus on high-value industries, the strategy implements a range of measures designed to increase productivity, sustainability and collaboration while growing the city’s economy by more than $5 billion in the next five years.

To achieve this, we must partner with industry to maximise opportunities. Today, we have 71,000 registered small businesses and our role is to ensure any red tape is slashed so they can get on doing what they do best.

I welcome the strategy.

Tom Tate

Mayor

Whilst the Gold Coast is renowned for having an enviable lifestyle and being a tourist destination, our economy has diversified substantially beyond our traditional industries. Our new Economic Strategy further supports this broadening of industries with the theme 'Diverse thriving economy'.

It is incredible to think that now just under half of our economic output is made up of the industrial sector (including manufacturing, mining, agriculture and wholesale trade) and our knowledge and professional services sectors.

The strategy outlines how we will work with and support the industries that have driven this diversification and create the jobs of the future, whilst providing the flexibility to recognise that many of these are still being determined. The strategy supports the development, attraction and retention of the best talent and prioritises opportunities for local businesses to connect with global markets.

A diverse economy is important because it provides opportunities for Gold Coasters from all professions and creates resilience in challenging economic times. Our Economic Strategy ensures we are well placed to take advantage of what makes our city such a great place to work, leveraging our enviable lifestyle, access to first class education and health services, cultural assets and our natural environment.

Tim Baker
Chief Executive Officer