Prepare for more sports, more plays, more festivals and move Vivid as the NSW Government invests millions to make Sydney Australia’s event capital.
The Baird Government announced it will commit an additional $123.35 million to secure more major events and boost visitor expenditure in the city by an estimated $481 million.
The additional $123.35 million represents a 25 percent budget boost and brings the total tourism and major events spend to over $643 million over four years.
How will the money be divided?
Around $73.25 million will be spent in securing more events – $22 million of that will be specifically spent on holding more affairs in Western Sydney.
$40.6 million will be spent on growing regional tourism and $9.5 million is being set aside to target more overseas visitors from priority markets.
NSW government is hoping to use some of the money to extend Sydney’s popular Vivid music festival by one week.
Among the events NSW is hoping to attract include, National Basketball Association (N.B.A.) matches; Major League Baseball Opening Series match; the 2018 FIFA World Cup Qualifiers; Opera in the Blue Mountains; and an action sports event such as the X Games.
The government is also hoping to book award-winning musicals ‘Book of Mormon’, ‘Beautiful’ and ‘Kinky Boots’.
But perhaps the most exciting use of money will be investing in another week of Sydney’s winter lights festival ‘Vivid’.
The travel industry has applauded the government’s decision, and particularly for ‘taking events tourism seriously’.
“It has taken a long time for Governments to understand the substantial impact that events, conferences and exhibitions can deliver to the economy.”
Carol Giuseppi, Tourism Accommodation Australia acting Chief Executive
“The NSW Government demonstrated their commitment to the tourism sector emphatically with the decision to rebuild Sydney’s convention and exhibition centre, and they will now support that with extra funds to bid for substantial tourist, sporting and business events,” she said.
“The new investment will particularly benefit Western Sydney, which now has world-class venues and new or expanded hotels to support the hosting of conferences and events.”
