NSW push for APEC tourism

NSW push for APEC tourism
Glenda Korporaal
June 22, 2007

REGIONAL areas of NSW are planning promotions to attract Sydney tourists during the APEC meeting in September, Sydney Chamber of Commerce executive director Patricia Forsythe said yesterday.
September 7, a Friday, has been declared a public holiday for workers in the Sydney area, as APEC leaders arrive in the city for their meeting over the weekend.

Ms Forsythe said the Hunter Valley was already gearing up to attract people from Sydney on three-day packages.

"One of the economic spin-offs from APEC could be that there will be a boost to tourism in other regions," she told an APEC seminar in Sydney.

Ms Forsythe said the APEC meeting would be a boost for the state despite the fact that Sydney businesses would bear the cost of the extra holiday.

A public holiday in NSW would cost the state an estimated $327 million.

She predicted that regional shopping centres would benefit as Sydney workers stayed away from the CBD over the weekend and shopped closer to home.

"The Friday may well be a bumper trading day for shopping centres outside the Sydney CBD."

Ms Forsythe said she hoped that extensive international media coverage of APEC-associated meetings - which will take place over the week starting September 2 and bring in more than 1500 media personnel from the 21 APEC countries - would provide a net gain to Sydney business.

While there would be little conventional business done over the weekend, the event would be a chance to showcase the city and encourage more international businesses to set up offices there.

Ms Forsythe said Sydney had become a centre for international business and finance in Australia.

Some 400 international business leaders will be coming to a two-day summit ahead of the APEC leaders meeting.

"It will be an opportunity for them to see what Sydney does well," Ms Forsythe said.