NSW Tourism Minister John Graham: ‘A decade of lockouts, lockdowns and over-regulation did enormous damage’

NSW Tourism Minister John Graham has admitted that a decade of “over-regulation” has severely damaged Sydney’s nightlife.

Speaking at the Business Sydney and Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) lunch on Friday, Graham said the state government is actively working to recover Sydney’s night scene.

“The truth in Sydney is that a decade of lockouts, lockdowns, and over-regulation did enormous damage,” he admitted. “They decimated the city’s nightlife. And we want to turn that around, and we’re working across the parliament and across the community to do that.”

Some of the changes already implemented include expanding the use of outdoor spaces, not shutting venues down after singular noise complaints and scrapping a law that stopped people standing up outside of bars.

Graham highlighted the huge role of tourism in the NSW economy. He noted that $53 billion is made from tourism annually, with 90,000 jobs supported. The goal is to increase the annual amount to $91 billion by 2035.

He went on to say that the cruise industry is a “key driver” of that strategy” and that it is a “big focus” of the government.

“Cruising brought in $2.75 billion to NSW [economy] last year. That’s half of the national total. It brought in half a million passengers and supported almost 9000 full-time jobs.”

After consulting the cruise industry as part of its NSW Visitor Economy Strategy, Graham said the government had come up with several initiatives to support the industry:

• Discussions are ongoing to identify a location for a third cruise terminal
• Work is being done to add shore power to the White Bay Cruise Terminal with a $20 million contract already awarded. Work is expected to be completed by 2026.
• NSW is working on marketing content that will be relevant to the sector

In terms of challenges to the industry, Graham identified key issues such as accommodation and workforce shortages. He added that the cruise industry had identified a growing demand for more onshore excursions and experiences that are relevant to cruise guests.

Meanwhile, outgoing CEO and president of the CLIA Kelly Craighead outlined the successes of the cruise industry in recent years whilst also acknowledging its challenges.

“I’m very pleased to say the state of the cruise industry is incredibly strong. We see the intent to cruise now higher than it was in 2019 and in fact, cruising has recovered faster than any of the other travel and tourism segments. The cruise industry in Australia recovered quicker than any other market.”

One of the challenges to the cruise industry is overtourism and reputational damage, she added.

“Mass tourism is a real issue and cruise is sometimes the poster child for that, not because we’re actually the problem (we’re a small percentage of visitation) but because we’re so visible. So, I think there are challenges around mass tourism and what that means from a reputational standpoint.”