Events

The Destination NSW Events division is responsible for developing and delivering a calendar of sporting, arts and cultural events to position Sydney and NSW as the events capital of the Asia Pacific.

Events make a significant contribution to the NSW economy and support thousands of jobs. They play a critical role in bringing visitors to Sydney and regional NSW for day trips and extended stays, while also enhancing the social wellbeing of NSW residents. In FY23-24 the Destination NSW Events division included four teams:

• Vivid Sydney
• Sports and Destination Events
• Operations
• Culture, Entertainment and Creative Industries

The teams secured 46 events and delivered 90 events during the FY23-24 financial year.

SYDNEY MARATHON

Destination NSW is supporting the TCS Sydney Marathon and its three-year candidacy period to achieve Abbott World Marathon Major (AbbottWMM) status. If successful, the TCS Sydney Marathon will become the first race added to the series since the induction of the Tokyo Marathon in 2013. It will join Tokyo Marathon, Boston Marathon, TCS London Marathon, BMW-BERLIN MARATHON, Bank of America Chicago Marathon and TCS New York City Marathon in 2025.

Participants travel from all around the world to run in AbbottWMM races, delivering significant international exposure to host cities. The 2023 Sydney Marathon marked Australia’s largest-ever marathon field and headlined a weekend-long running festival. The festival attracted more than 41,000 participants from 81 countries and more than 120,000 spectators.

In November 2023, The Sydney Marathon advanced to the second stage of the candidacy process for AbbottWMM.

REGIONAL EVENT FUND

The Regional Event Fund was established by the NSW Government in 1996. The program is a mechanism to grow regional visitation by assisting events that contribute to the unique character of regional NSW to market themselves to visitors from outside of their Local Government Area.

Destination NSW manages the fund and provides support to regional events through three streams:

• Incubator Event
• Flagship Event
• Event Development

In FY23-24, the program provided up to $1.5 million in total funding to 38 events that were identified as having the potential to act as a cornerstone or flagship event for their area by attracting overnight visitation and delivering long-term benefits to the region.

Supported events included Flavours of Mudgee Street Festival, Moree on a Plate, Lakeside Festival — Tuncurry and Forster, and Tumut River Tap Days.

VIVID Sydney

Vivid Sydney brought life and vibrancy to the Harbour City from 23 May to 16 June 2024.

The Southern Hemisphere’s largest festival of light, music, ideas and food is owned, managed and produced by Destination NSW.

FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023

Destination NSW played a pivotal role in the historic FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023™, showcasing the state’s world-class sporting infrastructure, vibrant visitor economy, and commitment to growing women’s sport.

The tournament, which culminated in Spain’s victory over England in the final at a sold-out Stadium Australia, captivated audiences domestically and worldwide. Record after record was broken during what was the biggest sporting event of the year and the largest women’s single-sport event in history.

Staged across Australia and New Zealand, Sydney was the setting for more matches than all other host cities, successfully hosting 11 of the 64 matches. These fixtures included six matches at the Sydney Football Stadium and five sold-out games at Stadium Australia, including the Matildas’ opening game, their semi-final loss to England, and the final.

In total, 610,822 fans attended the matches in Sydney, with the event generating significant economic benefits for NSW and attracting more than 86,000 ex-region visitors. The total visitor expenditure delivered was more than $128 million.

More than 250,000 fans—more than any other city—attended the Destination NSW-delivered Sydney FIFA Fan Festival™ in Darling Harbour. The festival ran across the four weeks of the tournament, while five teams based themselves in NSW for the duration of their stay in Australia.

The tournament’s legacy extends beyond economic gains. The Matildas’ success inspired a new generation of female footballers, leading to a surge in registrations across the state. The Legacy Program, supported by the NSW Government, also played a crucial role in enhancing women’s leadership and club capacity within the sport.

The FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023™ solidified NSW’s position as a major sporting and tourism destination. The event’s positive impact on the community, economy, and women’s sports will continue to resonate for years to come.

SXSW Sydney 2023

Sydney became the first-ever host city of an annual South by Southwest (SXSW) event outside of Austin, Texas, when the inaugural Asia Pacific edition of the iconic creative industries festival was held from 15–22 October 2023.

SXSW Sydney 2023 featured more than 1,200 events and sessions with a line-up of speakers including Academy Award-winning actress Nicole Kidman, Grammy-winning artist Chance the Rapper, creator of Black Mirror Charlie Brooker, filmmaker and director Baz Luhrmann, and Australian actress Naomi Watts.

Secured by the NSW Government through Destination NSW in partnership with TEG, the event showcased Sydney as a hub for the creative industries in the Asia Pacific, bringing together creatives, tech pioneers, musicians, and culture enthusiasts from across the region and beyond.

Whole-of-government collaboration saw Destination NSW work with colleagues from Investment NSW, Create NSW, Study NSW, Screen NSW, and the Office of the 24-Hour Economy Commissioner. The partnership delivered a trade stand at the SXSW Sydney Tech and Innovation Expo and a three-day program of industry engagement events during a NSW House activation, which represented more than 115 NSW businesses and attracted more than 2,250 visitors.

Tamworth Country Music Festival

The nation’s largest country music celebration, the 52nd Tamworth Country Music Festival, attracted tens of thousands of fans and visitors to the region from 19–28 January 2024. The event featured concerts, a fan zone, a street parade, buskers, and the Country Music Association of Australia Awards (Golden Guitar Awards).

Data collected by Destination NSW during the festival indicated a 96 per cent visitor satisfaction rating, with 82 per cent of respondents indicating they would return in 2025.

Destination NSW’s continued investment in the Tamworth Country Music Festival significantly boosted overnight visitation to the region over the two-week festival period.