TOKYO: This year's Vivid festival attracted a record 2.33 million visitors, with national and international visitors to the Sydney light show up by 35 per cent.
Launching the dates for next year's Vivid to the Japanese tourism industry in Tokyo, Premier Gladys Berejiklian said the world's largest light show would be 10 years old in 2018.
This year, 5000 Japanese tourists travelled to Sydney to attend Vivid, but Ms Berejiklian said the NSW government wanted to boost Japanese tourism around the event, and would host a large delegation of 50 travel agents at Vivid in 2018.
Toru Ikuta, chief executive of major Japanese tour company, JTB World Vacations, said 20 years ago, 800,000 Japanese visited Australia annually. But the number of Japanese tourists plummeted by half in the following decades as tourism promotions stopped, and airlines reduced flights.
In the past year, Japanese tourist numbers have begun to rise again, with around 400,000 visiting Australia in 2016. The number of Japanese tourists to NSW rose by 20 per cent to 165,000 last year, assisted by more direct flights.
Mr Ikuta said an increase in Australian tourists travelling to ski in Japan, as a result of marketing by the Japanese government, had led to Qantas, JAL and ANA increasing flights between Australia and Japan.
This has reduced the flight cost for Japanese travellers wanting to come to Australia, who might have previously been deterred by the high cost of food and accommodation compared to other Asian destinations.
Mr Ikuta said Sydney was the top destination for Japanese tourists visiting Australia for the first time, and they liked the city's urban atmosphere and food. For repeat visitors, Queensland beaches are popular.
Ms Berejiklian said NSW wanted to attract more repeat visitors from Japan, by promoting events such as Vivid.
"We are seeing a resurgence of Japanese visitors to our shores and we want to see that grow even further," she said.
Vivid will be held from May 25 to June 16 next year. The NSW government said the tourism generated by Vivid contributed $143 million to the NSW economy.
The 2017 Vivid attendance figure was up slightly on 2016 levels of 2.31 million. Last year 17,827 Chinese tourists travelled to Sydney for Vivid.
