World Travel Guide

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About 10 million tourists visit the Gold Coast every year and tourism is the regions biggest industry contributing more than .4 billion into the city economy each year and directly accounting for one in four jobs in the city.

Gold Coast City is a major film production centre in Queensland and has accounted for approximately three quarters of all film production in Queensland since the 1990s. Warner Brothers have a large film studio just outside of the city at Oxenford which have been the filming locations for films such as Scooby Doo, the House of Wax and many Bollywood films such as Singh is King. The studios consist of eight sound stages, editing rooms, production offices, construction workshops and water tanks and with an overall floor space of nearly 11,000 sq metres, is one of the largest studios lots in the Southern Hemisphere. The Gold Coast is also the filming site for popular TV series Big Brother, H2O: just add water and The Strip.

The Gold Coast Indy 300 (formerly known as Lexmark Indy 300) is a car racing event held annually in October. The course ventures through the streets of Surfers Paradise and Main Beach. The Indy 300 comprises many other events such as the Indy Undie Ball and the Miss Indy Competition.The V8 Super cars event also coincides with the Indy 300 using the same track route .This attracts a huge following and most hotels and accommodation is booked out around this time.

Other tourist attractions include theme parks and surf beaches. The Gold Coast is also home to the worlds highest residential tower, the Q1 building. The Q1 building has the second highest vantage point in the southern hemisphere, the Eureka Building in Melbourne being the first. The building observation deck is located on the 77th level, where you can get an expansive view from Brisbane to Byron Bay.

Another infamous Gold Coast tourist attraction is the Bikini Clad Metre Maids. The government introduced them in 1965 to put a positive spin on the new parking regulations. What they do is place coins in the expired metres and then leave a calling card under your wiper, to help you avoid getting a ticket. Although they are no longer ran by the government the Metre Maids are still around and still a popular tourist attraction at the Gold Coast.