The world’s largest festival of light, music and ideas has broken visitation records for the third year in a row with more than 1.7 million people attending the Vivid Sydney festival in 2015, NSW Minister for Trade, Tourism and Major Events Stuart Ayres announced today.

“Vivid Sydney promised to shine brighter than ever before and it certainly achieved that, breaking the festival’s attendance record receiving more than 1.7 million visitors, an increase of 19 per cent on the record 1.43 million who attended last year,” Mr Ayres said.

“Vivid Sydney is now firmly established as one of the world’s most renowned festivals and this is reflected in the record sales of Vivid Sydney travel packages, with more than 36,500 domestic and international travel packages sold.

“In fact, over 26,000 international travel packages were sold with more than 11,000 packages sold to China alone. Key increases include a 39 per cent rise in packages from Korea, 57 per cent more from Singapore and travel packages from the USA were up 64 per cent,” Mr Ayres added.

Sydney’s cafes and restaurants also enjoyed a strong trade during the festival with more than 72 per cent of visitors to Vivid Sydney purchasing a meal during their visit.

Vivid Sydney Creative Director Ignatius Jones welcomed the figures.

“Each year Vivid Sydney sends its creative energy pulsing through the city, bringing art, innovation and creativity to everyone. I’m thrilled that this year’s Vivid Sydney program has resonated with audiences, with the festival’s light shining on a record number of visitors from across Australia and the world.” Mr Jones said.

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

To celebrate Vivid Sydney 2015, a time lapse video has been released of festival highlights, showcasing Sydney as never seen before.

To view and download visit www.vividsydney.com/media-centre

Vivid Sydney 2015 Facts and Figures:

  • Over 1.7 million attendees
  • More than 26,000 international packages sold
  • 121 international trade familiarisation visitors
  • More than 90,000 attended Vivid Music events
  • More than 70,000 attended Vivid Ideas events
  • 1.9 million visits to www.vividsydney.com
  • 305,928 Vivid Sydney Facebook fans
  • 17.9 million people reached from Vivid Sydney Facebook
  • 925,222 photos viewed on Vivid Sydney Facebook
  • 77,900 downloads of the Vivid Sydney app
  • More than 70 bands performed at Vivid Music with 382 musicians,
  • 232 DJs and 1,502 hours of programmed music entertaining festival goers
  • Over 500 speakers participating in more than 150 Vivid Ideas events
  • More than 80 light installations and projections created by 225 artists from 21 different countries

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