NSW Premier Barry O’Farrell today announced 2014 will bring even more major events to NSW, following a year which saw NSW named as the Best Event State in Australia.

Mr O’Farrell revealed in 2013, major events generated in excess of $468 million for the State’s economy and the upcoming year would build on the outstanding result.

“NSW is the home of major events – in 2014 we will see an even more exciting and extensive list of events in Sydney and NSW, many exclusive to this State,” Mr O’Farrell said.

“This weekend I visited Tamworth which is hosting the annual Country Music Festival, an event which will inject an estimated $50 million into the local economy.

“Other highlights in 2014 include the Opening Series of Major League Baseball – staged in Australia for the very first time – the world premiere of Baz Luhrman’sStrictly Ballroom the Musical, and a bigger and even better Vivid Sydney Festival, which was last year named Australian Event of the Year.

“In 2014 Sydney will be home to Australia’s richest horse racing carnival, The Championships, and play host to Italy’s most successful football clubs, Juventus.

“Our major event calendar is fantastic for people living in Sydney and NSW, but it also attracts tens of thousands of visitors to NSW from interstate and overseas, and is an important driver of jobs and economic activity in NSW.

“The NSW Government, through its tourism and major events agency, Destination NSW, will continue to work hard to ensure that this State remains the Best Event State in Australia.”

Some of the major events already confirmed for Sydney and NSW in 2014 include:

• ·         Tamworth Country Music Festival
• ·         Major League Baseball’s Opening Series – Arizona Diamondbacks vs LA Dodgers
• ·         World premiere of Baz Luhrman’s Strictly Ballroom the Musical
• ·         An expanded Vivid Sydney Festival
• ·         The Championships – Australia’s richest racing carnival
• ·         Juventus FC vs A League All Stars
• ·         Surfest 2014
• ·         Top Gear Festival Sydney
• ·         Handa Opera on Sydney Harbour – Madama Butterfly
• ·         State of Origin II
• ·         Bledisloe Cup rugby

Mr O’Farrell said major events had been outstanding success for NSW in 2013, generating in excess of $468 million in intrastate, interstate and international visitor spend in NSW, as well as providing national and international exposure and promotion of the State.

The amazing calendar of sporting, cultural and lifestyle events in 2013 included blockbuster exhibitions such as the Sydney International Art Series, spectaculars including the Handa Opera on Sydney Harbour, The Lion King and the inaugural Corroboree Sydney and some of the best regional events in the country, including CMC Rocks the Hunter, the Deni Ute Muster, the Tamworth Country Music Festival, Bathurst 1000 and Ironman Port Macquarie.

“We welcomed English Premier League side Manchester United to our shores for the first time in 14 years, the British and Irish Lions played three matches in NSW and we hosted two State of Origin matches in Sydney,” Mr O’Farrell said.

“Major events helped NSW lead the nation in the number of visitors, visitor nights and visitor expenditure, according to the International and National Visitor Surveys to year end September 2013.

“NSW welcomed more than 28 million international and domestic visitors who stayed 155 million nights and spent $21.6 billion.

“These world-class events confirm our position as Australia’s home of major events – the NSW Government has secured 184 events over the past two and a half years, boosting the State’s economy by about $1.2 billion.”

Mr O’Farrell said that since being created in 2011 as the State’s tourism and major events agency, Destination NSW has invested strongly in winning and developing new and innovative events for Sydney and NSW.

These events have either led or been incorporated into the State’s tourism marketing and promotional campaigns to stimulate and grow the visitor economy and assist the NSW Government to meet its 2020 goal of doubling overnight tourism expenditure to NSW.