NSW Government welcomes 'billion dollar' events boom

The success of the weekend's Major League Baseball Opening Series at the Sydney Cricket Ground continues a billion dollar major events boom for NSW, according to State Premier Barry O'Farrell.

Commenting on the historic matches between the Diamondbacks and Dodgers, Premier O'Farrell advised that 89 major events secured by the current NSW Government have contributed an estimated $1.3 billion in additional visitor expenditure to the NSW economy.

Premier O'Farrell said the combined growth rates for domestic and international visitor numbers (up 6.2%), visitor nights (up 7%) and visitor expenditure (up 11.5%) had all increased significantly over the past three years and showed the NSW Government's commitment to major events and tourism was delivering for the State's economy.

Premier O'Farrell stated "in the past three years we've secured 89 major events in a total of 224 events for NSW - fulfilling an election commitment to help rebuild the NSW economy through tourism and major events.

"Destination NSW estimates these events alone have delivered more than $1.3 billion in visitor spending to the NSW economy.

"That's well over a billion dollars from tourists visiting our cities and regions and spent in cafes, restaurants, bars and hotels - supporting the jobs of the 150,000 people directly employed in the State's visitor economy."

"Major events like the MLB Opening Series are not only great for people living in Sydney, but they help to bring visitors to our city and State, supporting tens of thousands of jobs in our tourism and hospitality sectors in Sydney and the regions.

"Our strategy is working – more than a quarter of the tickets sold to this weekend's games have been bought by fans living interstate or overseas and these games will be seen by well over 150 million people in the United States and Asia. "

Renewing Sydney's longstanding rivalry with Melbourne, Premier O'Farrell went on to suggest "Sydney has its mojo back - we've regained our status as Australia's major events capital.

"Victoria had a rails run for too long and we know they're smarting by our aggressive push to bring the big events to NSW.

"I'm delighted NSW is now outperforming all the other states, particularly Victoria and Queensland, on all the key indicators.

"We are attracting more domestic and international visitors to NSW, visitors are spending more nights in NSW and they are spending more while they're here. "

Big major event wins for NSW since 2011 include:

Since March 2011            

• 2014 MLB Opening Series

• Package of 7 State of Origin matches

• Bledisloe Cup every year until 2021

• Exclusive visit of Manchester United

• Vivid Festival (Australia's Event of the Year in 2013)

• Australian Open of Surfing

• World Cup Qualifier

• Top Gear Festival

Still to come in 2014/15

• World Premiere of Strictly Ballroom The Musical

• BMW Autumn Racing Carnival

• Exclusive visit of Juventus FC

• Socceroos v South Africa farewell match before 2014 World Cup

• 2015 AFC Asian Cup Final

• Australian Premiere season of Matilda The Musical

• State of Origin Game II

• Australian Open of Golf 

24th March 2014 - SCG HOSTS SUCCESSFUL MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL SEASON OPENER