Is Eurovision Asia really heading for the Gold Coast?

Eurovision Asia has been a long time coming, not helped with political issues and getting 10 different Asian countries to come to an agreement.

It was in March 2016 that Eurovision’s organiser European Broadcasting Union (EBU) struck a deal with SBS to create a local regional version of the European contest.

SBS and its production partner Blink TV were to spearhead its creation, and the original idea was to have Sydney as the first host city before it staged in other cities in the region.

Broadcasters from India, China and South Korea expressed interest and tentative plans for the contest to make its debut in 2017… then 2018.

Now in the latest instalment, the Gold Coast has it, and it will be held in late 2019.

This came from a report from 9NEWS Queensland, which found documents published by the Gold Coast City Council.

At this stage, it is set to run from November 30 to December 7, 2019, at the Gold Coast Convention and Exhibition Centre.

It will feature “high profile artists” from 16 Asia Pacific countries, with “red carpet arrivals”, “press meet and greets” and a “three-hour live broadcast grand final”.

Among those said to be taking part include China, Japan, Korea, Indonesia, Australia, New Zealand, India, South Korea, Singapore and the UAE.

Those who’ve shown interest have been Kazakhstan, The Maldives, Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands.

The full list of definites will be confirmed in May.

However, SBS has dismissed the speculation.

“Eurovision Asia is still in development. We continue to have a number of discussions on bringing the event to life, however nothing is confirmed at this stage.”

The Gold Coast will be hosting Australia Decides in February, where the Australian song and the artist to represent the country in Eurovision in Israel will be chosen.

Gold Coast council wants to be home of all things Eurovision, and in its consultation paper wants to be able to host it every four years for the next 12 years.

It has already earmarked the new HOTA arts precinct as Eurovision Asia Village.

“Eurovision Asia is huge,” Gold Coast mayor Tom Tate told 9NEWS.”(It potentially reaches) over 200 million people.”