Executive elite split on the best of Queensland Hamilton Island - better than Noosa and the Gold Coast? THE nation's high-profile business executives are divided over which Queensland holiday destination is the best - Noosa, Hamilton Island or the Gold Coast? Multi-billionaire developer Harry Triguboff plumps for the Gold Coast's Main Beach; Marcus Blackmore, chairman of vitamin company Blackmores swears by Hamilton Island, while veteran agent, Brian White, chairman of the global Ray White real estate empire, reckons Noosa wins hands down. White, who is based in Sydney, says Noosa will always be his first port of call - in fact he has owned a holiday house overlooking the township's famous Hastings Street for 15 years. "What a fantastic place it is," says White. I need to be close to warm water because surfing becomes much more enjoyable. Noosa gets a great tick in the box. For investors, or anyone interested in buying property in Noosa, White reckons the idyllic Sunshine Coast township has never been more affordable than it is now. You talk about yo-yo in prices, Noosa would take the cake. It operates independently of Queensland values and is heavily influenced by sentiment in Sydney and Melbourne. So what is necessarily happening in Queensland does not necessarily affect Noosa - given there are quite strong other forces occurring in what is happening in Queensland. Ever the real estate agent, White says there's evidence sales are significantly increasing in Noosa. That does not surprise me - that has always happened. But not everyone is enamoured with Noosa. Sydney-based Triguboff, reckons Main Beach is the best destination in the Sunshine State. "I like Main Beach because there is something to do," Triguboff says. There is no use having a holiday place if you have nothing to do. First of all, I built half of Main Beach. I go there, I have friends there, and then I spend time on Tedder Avenue in the cafes, and I have a billiard table and I walk every morning on the beach. But Triguboff does not confine his holidays to the Gold Coast. The founder of Meriton Apartments has his main residence in the elite Sydney harbourside suburb of Vaucluse. And he also has a penthouse on the 78th floor of an apartment tower in Liverpool Street, opposite Meriton's Sydney headquarters. I go there (to the penthouse) on Friday, I take my wife there on Fridays, we walk around the Botanical Gardens and Hyde Park, we sit and have coffee. On the 78th floor, I invite people there and I have lunch. "I have no boats and no planes, this is just how I live," Triguboff says. Blackmore, chairman of Blackmores, also likes Queensland as a holiday destination. Blackmore bought a holiday apartment on Hamilton Island a year ago. "I love the place, I keep my boat there, it's easy to swim there most of the year, and I don't have to wear women's stockings to stop the bities and the jellyfish stings," he says. Noosa and the Gold Coast are not warm enough in comparison to Sydney, where I live at Newport. And it only takes me 2 1/2 hours to fly to Hamilton from Sydney. RP Data senior researcher Tim Lawless says the Sunshine Coast and Gold Coast will always be popular because they are close to the water. On the Gold Coast price-sensitive buyers will be looking down the southern end . . . around Tugun and the Tweed Region, whereas more cashed-up buyers will target the glitter strip around Main Beach, Broadbeach and Mermaid Beach and those areas as well as Surfers Paradise where we have seen 50 per cent value declines. We are seeing more homes selling which is a good sign and more competition. We will start to see more and more people targeting these lifestyle regions.