Posted on March 17, 2025
Incredible pictures reveal the damage sustained by one of Australia’s biggest tourist hotspots but it’s not keeping them away.
Insane pictures reveal the damage wreaked at one of Australia’s most popular holiday spots and the frantic work being undertaken to restore the iconic beach.
Photos taken on the beach by news.com.au on Saturday between Broadbeach and Surfers Paradise on the Gold Coast show the extreme erosion that occurred as a result of ex-tropical cyclone Alfred.
Waves as high as “three or four-storey buildings” crashed into the coast for days on end, gouging millions of cubic metres of sand from about 500 kilometres of coastline between Coffs Harbour in New South Wales and Queensland’s Sunshine Coast.
One Broadbeach lifeguard said they were getting a $50 million sand pump from Grafton to pump the sand back and create the original slope down to the beach.
He said it will start with tourist areas like Surfers Paradise then work its way down to the other beaches — and will take about a month.
Meanwhile, one local told news.com.au she’s just happy to see the beaches open again and to be able to walk along the sand.
Despite the beaches looking a little worse for wear, Juliana Perdigao and Rafaela Tregas from Brazil, were excited to soak up the sun on Saturday.
They said they were happy to see the place filled with tourists making the most of their time on the island.
Charlotte Tulen from France, was in Byron Bay when news of the severe weather conditions were announced. However, she didn’t cancel her travel plans.
She spent the day at Surfers Paradise hitting up the beach and local cafes and restaurants.
Meanwhile, a couple were seen sunbathing on top of the eroded beach.
It comes at a time as people were urged to continue with their holiday plans in Queensland, particularly with the upcoming Easter period and school holidays looming.
Queensland Tourism Minister Andrew Powell asked visitors not to cancel their plans.
“Queensland is open for business. We are a huge state with plenty of tourism opportunities. Please, make your bookings now,” he told the ABC.
“We have machines on the beaches as we speak, and that recovery will continue.”
In the year ending June 2023, tourism was 4.4 per cent of the Gold Coast’s economy. It generated $1.62 billion and supported 20,419 jobs.
Rectification work is underway.
According to the Queensland government, the visitor economy has demonstrated strong performance since Covid-19 brought visitation to a standstill, with $7.7 billion in expenditure generated by 12.3 million visitors for the year ending June 2024.
In comparison to other tourist hotspots dotted around the Sunshine State, the Gold Coast alone records a higher average spend per visitor than Brisbane, Cairns and even the Sunshine Coast.
The Gold Coast iconic strip of sand known as Main Beach — which attracts more than 11 million visitors each year — recorded its highest wave ever at 12.3 metres.
Waves battered parts of the east coast due to the ex tropical cyclone.
Experience Gold Coast CEO John Warn said with a tourism economy of nearly $8 billion, the impacts of Alfred will be ongoing with the beach restoration being a top priority for the region.
“The beach recovery will be in three phases … firstly, removing of debris and scarping so it’s safe,” he said.
“Secondly, restoring services, pathways and lifeguard facilities and then the third will be long-term rejuvenation. It will have a significant impact, but we are a can-do city.
“The Gold Coast is an iconic part of Australia … we are confident about the upcoming school holidays. It’s going to be a massive effort to ensure the experiences and the operators and the hotels are up to speed.
“Some of those will take one or two weeks, others a bit longer … but we are confident on our long-term outlook.”
Mr Warn said despite what’s been depicted, the aim is to restore the beaches as quickly as possible.
“Very quickly you will see 50km of beaches returned to their former glory,” he said.
“There are some parts of the coastline that have not been as impacted. Some of the beaches won’t have as big an impact. All of our effort is into returning to business as usual as quickly as possible.
“The preparation that the city of Gold Coast went through in the leading up days gave the Gold Coast the best shot at minimising impact and damage. That planning and preparation has meant the minimisation of impact and damage is as good as it can be.”
People sitting above the erosion.
A couple sunbathing on top of the eroded beach.
Scenes from the Gold Coast.
The photos before Alfred hit the coast compared what currently stands is like another world, with erosion so extreme — some of the beach escarpments sit six-metres above the shoreline.
While the initial impact of Alfred on the Gold Coast and surrounding areas may be felt at a normally lucrative time of year, University of Newcastle coastal erosion expert Michael Kinsela said the outcome of the cyclone could’ve been far worse.
“No doubt the erosion is severe and the pictures are very dramatic but what I’m seeing is pictures of eroded beaches and dunes, not pictures of roads falling into the sea and sea walls failing,” Dr Kinsela said.
“In that sense, it’s a very positive outcome and something that coastal managers plan for.
“It’s actually a good outcome in such an extreme situation.”
