The year that was brought challenge and opportunity for Gold Coast businesses, with some rising to the occasion, and others ...

Don't miss out on the headlines from Gold Coast. Followed categories will be ... 2016 – despite destructive storms closing its theme parks for much of last year’s Christmas holidays.

Gold Coast leaders say the city’s lifeblood tourism industry has “bounced back” and is primed for summer crowds a year on from devastating Christmas storms which smashed last year’s festive period.

These in-between festive days, bookended by Christmas and New Year, are the official start of high-season silliness for the Gold Coast’s tourism industry, and this week is as intense as it gets.