The world’s largest festival of light, music and ideas has broken visitation records for the third year in a row with more than 1.7 million people attending the Vivid Sydney festival in 2015, NSW Minister for Trade, Tourism and Major Events Stuart Ayres announced.
“Vivid Sydney promised to shine brighter than ever before and it certainly achieved that, breaking the festival’s attendance record receiving more than 1.7 million visitors, an increase of 19 per cent on the record 1.43 million who attended last year,” Mr Ayres said.
“Vivid Sydney is now firmly established as one of the world’s most renowned festivals and this is reflected in the record sales of Vivid Sydney travel packages, with more than 36,500 domestic and international travel packages sold.
“In fact, over 26,000 international travel packages were sold with more than 11,000 packages sold to China alone. Key increases include a 39 per cent rise in packages from Korea, 57 per cent more from Singapore and travel packages from the USA were up 64 per cent,” Mr Ayres added.
Sydney’s cafes and restaurants also enjoyed a strong trade during the festival with more than 72 per cent of visitors to Vivid Sydney purchasing a meal during their visit.
Destination NSW Chief Executive Officer, Sandra Chipchase said, “We are delighted that the hard work of our team here in Sydney as well as through our overseas offices continues to pay off, with quite clearly successful campaigns to increase visitation to Vivid Sydney.”
“This year Destination NSW hosted the largest Vivid Sydney trade visit program to date, with 121 participants from eight markets including China, Taiwan, Japan, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and New Zealand. A record 96 international media from 10 countries were also hosted during Vivid Sydney to report on the event, sharing their experiences of the festival with the world.
“Vivid Sydney is now the biggest event in Australia and the cross-city support we have received from Government agencies as well as private enterprise has been truly outstanding. Congratulations Sydney, everyone has ensured this event was ‘best in class’ and it continues to be a must see annual event in Australia,” Ms Chipchase said.
Vivid Sydney Creative Director Ignatius Jones welcomed the figures.
“Each year Vivid Sydney sends its creative energy pulsing through the city, bringing art, innovation and creativity to everyone. I’m thrilled that this year’s Vivid Sydney program has resonated with audiences, with the festival’s light shining on a record number of visitors from across Australia and the world.” Mr Jones said.
Vivid Sydney is owned and managed by the NSW Government’s tourism and major events agency, Destination NSW.
To celebrate Vivid Sydney 2015, a time lapse video has been released of festival highlights, showcasing Sydney as never seen before.
