Connected - Vivid Lights up our Precinct & The Sydney Waterfront Destination Platform is now Live!
Tuesday 4 June
We’re excited to share some fantastic highlights and events from our vibrant Precinct. From the official launch of The Sydney Waterfront to the dazzling displays of Vivid Sydney, and the delightful Pyrmont Food and Wine Festival, there’s plenty to celebrate. Read on to discover more about these events and the incredible efforts of our community (with plenty more happening over the coming months!).
In mid-May, we proudly launched our new destination marketing platform, The Sydney Waterfront, alongside our partners, members, and friends. This innovative platform highlights the exceptional work of businesses and communities within our Precinct to a global audience. Special thanks to our hosts Cardea Restaurant and Garry Simonian, for making the event a memorable evening.
Vivid Sydney has arrived in our Precinct, spanning from Walsh Bay to Darling Harbour and the Maritime Museum. Running until June 15, Vivid Sydney will transform our city with vibrant lights, music, food, and thought-provoking ideas. Don't miss the blazing Vivid Fire Kitchen and the curated program of free music at Tumbalong Nights as part of Vivid Music.
Another fantastic Pyrmont Food and Wine Festival at Pirrama Park took place in May, delivered by our friends at Business in the Peninsula. The festival is a celebration of the best NSW wines, local breweries and distilleries as well as local food trucks and free live entertainment from local musicians and artists. Well done to Festival Director Alex Gibbs for a wonderful community event!
I’m pleased to report Colliers data on the Precinct has demonstrated a 10% year-on-year growth in visitation and spending, with 8.1m precinct visits in April. We know that positive spending growth was seen across a range of categories including art, entertainment and recreation, up 22%, food and grocery up 18% hotels and accommodation up 10% compared to the previous year. Our Data and Insights Platform is a significant initiative of New Sydney Waterfront Co. where we produce these insights for our members through the analysis of mobile phone movement data and spending data to provide a view on precinct visitor volumes and spending behaviours across Sydney’s Western Harbour. Please email me if you would like access to our April 2024 insights reports and data and analytics on the Precinct provided by Colliers.
We recently played host to international expert in improvement districts, the Founder and Chief Executive of Primera Ruth Duston OBE, OC who held a number of meetings with Members, government, and the City of Sydney to discuss the potential of the model here in NSW and how it offers the perfect framework to galvanise private sector partnerships. The team and I also participated in deep-dive workshops on the draft Community Improvement District legislation, held by Transport for NSW with stakeholders from across the sector.
Finally, we invite you to join us on the evening of 6th June for our ESG Summit, where we will launch our ESG Materiality Assessment Report and discuss collaborative strategies for achieving our goals as a Precinct. Please see the details below to join us and participate.
I hope everyone takes advantage of the opportunities available in the Precinct and enjoys the exciting events and initiatives our members have planned for the coming months.
Rachael Smith
BID Director