The Tourism & Transport Forum (TTF) welcomes today’s announcement that Lendlease will partner with the New South Wales Government to redevelop Sydney Football Stadium (SFS), commencing in January 2019.

TTF Chief Executive Officer Margy Osmond applauded the announcement saying that modern sporting infrastructure is a vital part of any global city.

“We know that great venues attract great events, not just for tourists travelling for a once-off occasion, but also for locals heading along each week to cheer on their favourite footy team,” Ms Osmond said.

“A suite of new world-class stadiums – Western Sydney, the SFS and an upgraded ANZ Stadium – will bring new events to Sydney, as well as getting more people along to existing events.

“Over 120,000 international visitors travelled to Australia in the last year specifically to attend a cultural or sporting event. And each year Sydney attracts international visitors keen to get a slice of the major events action, whether it be sporting or otherwise.

“Sydney is the gateway to Australia and tourism is crucial to the growth of the NSW economy. Anything that attracts more people to Sydney will have far-reaching benefits.

“Recent Tourism and Transport Forum polling conducted by Nielsen demonstrated that over 50 per cent of New South Wales consumers wanted to see more investment by their State Government into attracting and hosting more major events.

“On top of that, 50 per cent believed that the economic impact on the host state was the most important outcome, followed by the promotion of what New South Wales has to offer to potential interstate and overseas visitors,” Ms Osmond said.