There has been a lot of chatter about bars and restaurants reopening in Sydney this week, but how are things looking at Sydney’s biggest venue? ASE checked in with ICC Sydney CEO, Geoff Donaghy.

With such high vaccination rates in the community now, we are expecting that confidence to return to face to face event settings will continue to grow.

Client enquiries for local events have been strongest to the end of this year but we’re happy to see a large experiential exhibition, Neighbourhood Earth, come online in November, and the early months of 2022 are very strong. However, uncertainty around interstate borders continues to effect some markets.

We are also seeing more live entertainment events come on board from December this year and our team is looking forward to welcoming patrons back into the theatres as we know people are craving sophisticated, life-enriching in person experiences having been confined to their homes and local areas for a long time. Other notable artists and events to be held at Aware Super Theatre in the New Year include Lorde, London Grammar and Professor Brian Cox.

As we have heard from the Federal Government, the international border will reopen next month for states that have reached 80 per cent vaccination rates for fully vaccinated Australian travellers, starting with New South Wales.

While we don’t expect any significant return to normal levels until the second half of 2022, we continue to work directly with the international market to keep our brand front and centre of decisions makers around the world.

We are excited to be able to get back to what we do best, running extraordinary events for our clients and community. We’re also keen to restart our significant contribution to the community, not just the economic benefits of attracting audiences back to the city but the knowledge economy benefits generated when the top minds of industries gather to share information and of course the deep supply chain and legacy benefits that reach out into regional New South Wales through our food and wine producers as well as our First Nations communities, youth and emerging artists and entrepreneurs and the many charities and communities in need we support.

We are ready to welcome events back to ICC Sydney, and we are looking forward to seeing the broader industry get back together.