Big Day Out may no longer be a part of the Gold Coast after this year, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t plenty of willing towns eager to take in the money-making music festival. As reported by The Music Network, Townsville, Cairns, Mackay, and Woodfordia (Woodford Folk Festival) on the Sunshine Coast, are all possible new homes for BDO come 2014.
BDO chief Adam Zammit has been approached by Townsville mayor Jenny Hill, with Townsville currently promoting itself as an ‘events city’. To its credit Townsville has the potential of attracting travellers from Northern Queensland, the Northern Territory and SE Asia.
Cairns mayor Bob Manning is set to make a bid at bringing BDO to the Far North Queensland regional city. According to The Music Newtwork, Manning explained to The Cairns Post, “We are always open to potential opportunities such as this.”
Woodfordia site director Bill Hauritz (Woodford Folk festival) has also engaged in talks, but Woodford and BDO may be too close together from a scheduling standpoint.
Meanwhile, acting Gold Coast Mayor Donna Gates will meet with Zammit when BDO reaches the Gold Coast later this month in the hopes of finding an alternative venue that can keep the BDO on the Gold Coast. As noted by The Music Network, certain councilors and tourism bodies on the Gold Coast are very upset at the Queensland State Government’s decision to transform the Parklands showgrounds into an athletes’ village for the 2018 Commonwealth Games.
Although the Commonwealth Games are predicted to bring approximately $2 billion into the economy, BDO has injected millions of dollars into the Gold Coast and attracted thousands of tourists annually since 1994.
