VIVID SYDNEY 2016 SMASHES VISITOR RECORD WITH 2.3 MILLION ATTENDEES

NSW Minister for Trade, Tourism and Major Events this week announced Vivid Sydney had smashed a new record, with more than 2.3 million people attending the world’s largest festival of light music and ideas – up more than 35 per cent on last year’s attendance.

“Vivid Sydney 2016 is officially our biggest year yet with a record 2.31 million visitors. That’s on par with the population of Brisbane and demonstrates the momentous growth and enduring popularity of this world-class festival,” Mr Ayres said.

“A standout area of growth this year has been the number of visitors travelling to NSW on specific Vivid Sydney travel packages, with a remarkable 88,300 packages sold, up an incredible 104 per cent on 2015 figures.”

Destination NSW CEO and Vivid Sydney Executive Producer Sandra Chipchase said “New precincts at the Royal Botanic Garden Sydney and Taronga Zoo were firm visitor favourites as well as the spectacular Songlines projection onto the Sydney Opera House sails that celebrated Indigenous Australian culture.”

The Vivid Music program recorded substantial growth with more than 132,000 attendees at the 190 performances staged at 63 venues across the city. A further 54,000 attendees participated in the Vivid Ideas program.

Vivid Sydney is owned, managed and produced by the NSW Government’s tourism and major events agency, Destination NSW.

Interesting Vivid Sydney 2016 facts:

• 2.31 million attendees
• More than 88,300 Vivid Sydney travel packages
• Over 44,100 international travel packages
• Over 44,200 domestic travel packages sold
• 17, 827 visitors from China on Vivid Sydney travel packages
• More than132,000 attendees at Vivid Music events
• More than 54,000 attended Vivid Ideas events
• Over 2.2 million visits to www.vividsydney.com
• 404,500 Vivid Sydney Facebook fans
• 42 million people reached from Vivid Sydney Facebook
• 360° Facebook videos generated 1.9 million views in two days
• More than 88,000 downloads of the Vivid Sydney app
• 190 Vivid Music performances
• 658 speakers participating in 183 Vivid Ideas events
• More than 90 light installations and projections created by more than 150 artists from 23 different countries
• Guinness World Record title for the Largest Interactive Lighting Display awarded to the Dress Circle installation at Circular Quay.