Touch of Venice coming to Mackay Waterfront

The gondola service, with extendable poles to negotiate Mackay’s six-metre tides, will offer short tours along River Street where new public realm works are under way.

It will tour the nearby Sandfly Creek and check out historic wrecks in Bassett Basin.

Mayor Greg Williamson said council had been approached by an Italian company about the gondola service.

He said the Venice-based company had recently started a gondola service on the Gold Coast canals and was looking for other opportunities along the Queensland coast.

“This is a fantastic idea and could be an exciting addition to our Mackay Waterfront plans to revitalise the riverfront.”

Mayor Williamson said council’s procurement policy meant it was unable to deal exclusively with the company that approached it.

“So, we’re calling tenders to see if there are any other companies worldwide that provide similar gondola services,’’ he said.

“The Italian company, Gondola 2 Go, has indicated it will submit a tender, so we look forward to being able to assess the concept and costing.”

Mayor Williamson said the gondola service would operate from a pontoon, which would be built in River Street as part of upcoming stages of Mackay Waterfront.

“Our big tides mean it won’t be able to operate at all hours of the day but extendable poles will increase the timeframe for daily tours,’’ he said.

Tenders close at noon today.