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The case study on Surfers Paradise, Gold Coast, examines a local-level example of governance. Surfers Paradise is the literal and metaphorical heart of the Gold Coast and one of Queensland’s most visited tourist precincts. Surfers Paradise has evolved through many iterations of the market from Australian surfers in the 1960s, to high-end Japanese tourists in the 1980s and to an affordable family-friendly destination today. There has also been an evolution of the Schoolies Week festival, an end of high school celebration, which has at times tarnished the reputation of the precinct. Surfers Paradise presents a case of destination management that caters to numerous stakeholders including at times highly disparate tourist segments.

Whilst academic research can capture an existing sense of place, the act of placemaking through strategies such as events depends upon the attitudes and actions of precinct managers and event organisations. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the collaborative research process between researchers and a precinct manager that highlighted an event’s ability to contribute to placemaking within that precinct.

Using the results of this event experience study, informal interviews with the SPA research partners, secondary data and a longitudinal, reflective account of the research collaboration, the research process itself was investigated to see how it assisted in the (re)design of the event within the precinct manager’s placemaking strategy to encourage a family-friendly, beach-centred culture within the precinct.

It is proposed that the research results combined with a collaborative research process itself facilitated a shift from the business imperative on the event’s economic performance indicators to a broader discussion of the event’s role in shaping local’s (and visitor’s) perceptions of place, and allowed a broader discussion of the role of events in driving a “liveability” and/or placemaking agenda, complementing the economic impact agenda, for the precinct manager.

The paper suggests how and why it is important for academics to work collaboratively with precinct managers to translate the concept of placemaking into the actual design of events within a place. To do so requires the researchers to bridge the gap between theory and practice. For the concept to be translated into action, greater attention was drawn to the placemaking role of events, positioning it along economic impact measures as a valuable outcome of events.

Few co-authored studies, representing both researchers and practitioners exist within the events sector, and this study contributes towards understanding process of research impact, by considering the forces capable of delivering a placemaking agenda through a precinct’s event portfolio.

This paper explains how the location of motorsports events is an integral part of the marketing of the sport of motor racing and of all its attendant commercial interests. Case studies of the major motorsports events staged in public street circuits in Australia are used to illustrate how the locations have particular symbolic significance that adds legitimacy to the sport of motor racing, and the messages and impacts associated with these events. The paper examines the wider significance of allowing special public spaces in cities to be used for motorsports events, and contends that the marketing of sporting events should not be considered independently of the major challenges facing the world.

The Gold Coast has long been one of Australia’s iconic destinations. Rapid development by entrepreneurs in the 1960s saw the former coastal fishing and surfing town grow quickly into a city. After many decades of success, market fluctuations and changing consumer patterns the Gold Coast has stagnated as a destination. This case discusses the history of tourism on the Gold Coast and provides a context to some of the modern governance challenges faced by the destination. The findings of an empirical study of social network analysis identify various power relationships in the destination’s governance structure.

This paper aims to explore how destination image can be shaped, created and crafted, from an induced-source, supply-side perspective to better cater to Arab visitors, drawing on empirical research conducted on the Gold Coast, Australia.

Two sequential stages of research were implemented. The first stage conducted an analysis of websites to compare and contrast the image of the Gold Coast projected with the image perceived by Arab visitors. The second stage conducted semi-structured interviews with professionals from two destination marketing organisations (DMOs) directly responsible for marketing the Gold Coast to Arab visitors.

Key findings indicate that the DMOs sought to portray a strong destination brand to Arab visitors, specifically around its current branding of “Gold Coast: Famous for Fun”. The Gold Coast has highly evolved strategies to target Arab visitors, including productive working relationships between DMOs and strategic partnerships with tourism organisations in the Arab world. However, analysis of websites revealed some incongruence between core attractions. Arab websites emphasise the beach more than do the Australian, state and local DMOs, and entertainment did not rate as highly as the need for beaches, shopping and accommodation.

Importantly, this research highlights the need for DMOs to clearly understand the needs of Arab visitors and integrating such information into targeted marketing campaigns aligned with the core destination brand.

The contribution of this research is in providing a more nuanced understanding of the importance of using culture as a key segmentation tool not only to help attract more tourists but to assist DMOs to understand the special needs of various cultures in the destination.

This study determines the relationship between small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and their support providers during three phases: pre-conflict environment, during conflict environment, and the post-conflict (uncertain) environment with the reference to institutional theory in the northwest region of Pakistan where there is ongoing unrest between the authorities and the insurgents.

Using a qualitative approach, a total of 23 semi-structured interviews were conducted, 19 with the owner-managers of small manufacturing firms and 4 from small business support providers in the region.

The authors theorise the changing role of support agencies as differing institutional gaps, while conflict is destructive for SMEs and support agencies; paradoxically the crisis results in stronger relationships between the support providers and SMEs which was weaker in the pre-conflict environment. Such stronger relationship enhanced the cognitive pillar of institutional theory where entrepreneurship is supported by various groups including government agencies and SMEs to alleviate unemployment in the region which is one of the potential reasons of terrorism in the country.

The study may have value for policymakers who need to know more about how small businesses and support providers develop a support network in difficult regions and give a comprehensive framework to other conflictual regions who face similar circumstances.

This research contributes to the previous literature in several ways. First, the study reveals the impact of conflict environment on small businesses and support providers where a little research has been undertaken. Second, the study shows the support mechanism in three different intervals pre-conflict, during the conflict and post-conflict and how the Talibanization in the region has a positive impact by strengthening the support structure among small businesses and support providers. Finally, the study contributes to the growing body of literature on entrepreneurship in conflict environments.

The Gold Coast is Australia′s premier tourist destination, attracting over 2,500,000 visitors annually. Discusses the characteristics of this rapidly growing region and examines recent tourism trends such as the development of international hotels. After analysing factors which are likely to shape the future prospects of the hotel sector, suggests that, despite increased occupancy rates, the competitive environment may limit the scope for rate increases.