New research has revealed more people are now visiting retail and recreation places in the City of Gosnells than in the weeks before the COVID-19 pandemic, signalling the City has recovered ahead of inner-city locations.

The research paper by the Committee for Perth and the University of Western Australiaused Google mobility data to look at how the pandemic affected the way people in Greater Perth used public transport, and visited recreation and retail spaces, workplaces and residences.

It revealed that the monthly average visitation to retail and recreation sites in the City of Gosnells has increased by 11.5 per cent compared to pre-pandemic levels.

This was the second highest monthly average increase from February 2020 to August 2021 among Greater Perth local governments.

Mayor Terresa Lynes said Google mobility reports showed this trend was continuing, with visitation to retail and recreation sites up 35 per cent this month compared to pre-pandemic levels, the highest increase of all local governments. The City also performed strongly in terms of visits to parks, supermarkets and pharmacies.

Mayor Lynes said the figures should increase community confidence in the City’s economic development and future growth.

“These figures show the City of Gosnells is emerging from the impacts of COVID-19 with strong business and economic recovery,” she said.

“The research, coupled with the fact that the City of Gosnells is one of the most populous local governments in the Perth metropolitan area, make a strong business case for commercial and retail investment opportunities in the City.”

The report revealed that visitor numbers to retail/recreation decreased significantly across all local government areas in April 2020 as COVID-19 first hit. However, outer metropolitan local governments fared considerably better and demonstrated significant recovery.

“The City of Gosnells supports economic development in the region through a wide range of measures, from the award-winning Simplified Trading Partnership Permit to reduce red tape for food truck businesses, to ongoing revitalisation work in the Gosnells Town Centre,” she said.

“The City also supports Gosnells Business Station, providing affordable office space and business advisory services to new and small companies.

“There are many great reasons to invest and do business in the City of Gosnells, and our active, supportive community is one crucial aspect of this.”

Published on

1st Dec 2021

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