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The NSW Government has released an ambitious strategy to host more major events, boost regional visitation and building new tourism icons and visitor experiences for the future.

Aiming to “transform the state into the largest tourism hub in the Asia-Pacific”, the Visitor Economy Strategy 2030 aim is to grow the NSW’s visitor economy to $65 billion by 2030, up from its pre-pandemic level of $43 billion.

Unveiling the Strategy yesterday, NSW Minister for Jobs, Investment, Tourism and Western Sydney, Stuart Ayres stated “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.

“Once health advice allows, NSW will bounce back as a result of a $200 million a year investment to help get the tourism sector back on its feet; we have shown how agility and resilience will keep our State open for business throughout this challenging pandemic.”

Describing NSW as “the largest visitor economy in Australia”, Minister Ayres explained “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.”

The strategy - prepared by the NSW Government’s tourism and major events agency Destination NSW through extensive stakeholder consultation with industry and government stakeholders - features these 2030 targets:

• To reach $65 billion in total visitor expenditure, up on the previous overnight visitor expenditure target of $55 billion by 2030 which was set in 2018
• A new focus on the day trip market, worth an estimated $10 billion by 2030
• Growing opportunities in regional NSW as a key to the future, to contribute $25 billion total

Advising that the strategy would focus on domestic visitors until international travel is again allowed, Minister Ayres added “the Visitor Economy Strategy is not just about recovery, it’s about the future.

“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.

“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.”

A Senior Officers Group will be established to coordinate funding and government services relating to the visitor economy while Destination NSW will lead a coordinated, whole of government approach to implementing the strategy.

Welcoming the strategy, Simon McGrath, Chief Executive of hotel group Accor Pacific, said it demonstrated the NSW Government’s understanding of how valuable tourism is to the state.

McGrath commented “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.”

The Visitor Economy Strategy 2030 can be viewed at www.destinationnsw.com.au/VES2030

Images: Sydney's Circular Quay (top) and the Hunter Valley's vineyards (below).

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