Events like Vivid Sydney have helped to drive NSW's visitor economy by attracting both tourism and business investment. The festival has also become a drawcard for corporate incentive groups. Photo Credit: Unsplash/Trevor McKinnon
The New South Wales (NSW) Government has drafted a 10-year recovery roadmap for its visitor economy, with events at its core.
“If Covid-19 has shown us anything, it’s that the visitor economy is
everyone’s business — it accounts for almost 300,000 jobs and 110,000
businesses, and is integral to our state’s economy,” said NSW minister
for jobs, investment, tourism and Western Sydney, Stuart Ayres.
The refreshed Visitor Economy Strategy 2030 will focus on securing
global events, grants and trainings, pushing regional visits, and
building new tourism icons and experiences. The goal: AUD$65 billion
(US$49.45 billion) in total visitor expenditure, and a new focus on the
day trip market, worth an estimated AUD$10 billion.
“From regions to roads, planning to precincts, the strategy provides a
framework to guide investment and decision-making in the areas of
marketing, events, business support, regulations, training and tourism
infrastructure,” he said.
Backed by a yearly AU$200 million investment, the strategy is built on five core pillars:
1) Invest in world-class events
Expect an accelerated investment in signature sporting and cultural
events such as the 10 World Cups and Vivid Sydney, as well as business
events, specifically targeting high-value travellers. There'll also be a
new focus on nurturing home-grown events, and strengthening event
infrastructure.
“We will bolster our reputation for staging premier events including
the Australian exclusive production of Hamilton, Vivid Sydney, Disney’s
Frozen and we are close to securing the full suite of 10 World Cup
sporting events for NSW in 10 years.”
2) Showcase NSW strengths
More will be shown on the incentives front, with funding for new
products and experiences that sell the destination's strengths.
Programmes will also be launched to digitally transform visitor economy
businesses, and enhance visitor experiences. These will be supported by
marketing campaigns.
“The NSW Government is already charging ahead to create new tourism
experiences and icons such as the new Sydney Fish Market, new sporting
stadiums and cultural institutions and world-class walking tracks in
regional NSW," Ayres said.
3) Building the brand
New brands will be launched to tell the Sydney and NSW story, based
on consumer research. Key messages include enforcing the destination's
appeal as a place for study, business and investment.
4) Facilitate growth
Money will be pumped into infrastructure, job creation, industry
resilience and sustainability, future planning, and better ways to do
business.
Accor Pacific CEO, Simon McGrath, said the strategy provides a solid
roadmap which demonstrates the NSW Government’s understanding of how
valuable tourism is to the state.
“From an industry point of view, the Visitor Economy Strategy is
prepared in a very collaborative way, with a focused approach. As a
result it has delivered an incredibly dynamic and strong platform which
gives confidence to investors, operators and the industry as a whole.
The result of this is that it will bring renewed interest from the
private sector into tourism in NSW,” said McGrath.
5) Focus on outcomes
This includes aligning funding and resources towards economic growth
and job creation. Annual reports will help to review the strategy, while
Visitor Economy Index will investigate new ways of measuring impact and identifying challenges.
Meanwhile, the domestic market remains its primary focus, until
international travel resumes. On 28 January, Australia extended its
suspension of the Trans-Tasman travel bubble with New Zealand by another
72 hours, after two new cases of the South African Covid-19 variant was
found in Auckland.