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Hello and welcome to this special edition

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of Talking Property with CBRE. The

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Lobby Series is a collection of intimate

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talks with industry experts that

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uncover how we can maximise the

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human experience in the spaces we

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frequent every day . Each

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episode takes place in the lobby of

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some of Sydney's most iconic buildings

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and brings together our very own in-house

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experts with market leaders who are

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shaping our future cities. We

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hope you enjoy these insightful conversations.

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Hello, my name is Phil Rowland. I'm the CEO of

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CBRE in Australia and New Zealand, and

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I'm joined by someone who is very

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much at the forefront of brand Sydney.

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Steve Cox, the CEO of Destination

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New South Wales. Steve, welcome

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Phil. Thank you. Great to be here.

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It's great to be in this great space, isn't it?

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Yes, absolutely. An iconic place. Many memories from here,

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from years gone past, and I look forward to

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many future memories too.

1:03

I bet. Steve , in your role, you

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are responsible for driving the strategic direction

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of Destination New South Wales and the

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delivery of the visitor economy strategy.

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Which is very much about making New South

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Wales the premiere destination.

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They're big targets. When you

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think about achieving those targets,

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what drives your passion?

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Look, I mean, really the passion is the

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purpose of the organisation, and that's to deliver economic

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and social benefit to the people in New South Wales

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by growing the visitor economy. I mean, you

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know, I've had many careers in my time and

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I got to a point in my career where it was about 'I

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only want to work in an organisation where I'm absolutely passionate

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about its purpose' and the work that

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we do day in, day out through the

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work at Destination New South Wales. But really importantly,

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across all the stakeholders, both within government,

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local, state, federal, but

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also broader stakeholders such as yourselves

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and the industry more broadly, makes an absolute

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difference to the people in New South Wales. I mean, the visitor

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economy in 2019 was

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close to 6% of gross state product. It's

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one of the largest employers. It's about

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jobs, about happiness, putting a smile on people's

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faces. That's what keeps us going.

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And when you

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think about Sydney and its attraction to

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everybody, and you think

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about the range of visitors, whether they're within Sydney,

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whether they're interstate, whether they're international

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visitors, how are you thinking about curating

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the sort of the different needs of those visitors? And are

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they the same? Are they different? How do you think about

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that?

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Yes, look, when we've developed

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the visitor economy strategy, and that's kind of the guiding light

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for the work that we are doing. And that's got a few pillars in

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the strategy. And one of those was the brand.

2:40

When we think about that, we did give it a lot of

2:42

thought about the visitor - who

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we're trying to talk to. And those

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groups that you mentioned are all really

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important, and there are slight differences between them. And

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I do think for me here in Sydney,

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as a local resident, as somebody who's

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absolutely passionate about this city, we do have a role

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to play in building advocacy

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amongst the people that live here. And our

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research shows that in cities where

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there's really strong advocacy and belief,

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and people are really proud of their city and talk openly

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about how good their city is, visitor

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spend is about 35% higher

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per visitor just on that one thing alone. So

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it's about connecting with, you know, Sydney

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residents and locals and helping us all rediscover

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just how amazing this place is that we

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live in. That incredible collision

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between nature and culture, the

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diversity of this city. I mean, there is no other

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city in the world like this city. We are the

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premier city, I would say, of the

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Asia Pacific , one of the very best in

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the entire world. Get that message across

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to our people, but then make sure that it resonates

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with visitors, both domestically intrastate, domestically interstate.

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And then really importantly, international. And each of those

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markets have some other nuances as well.

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At more sort of micro level , Steve, Sydney's

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got some great precincts. We

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had a session down in Brookfield Place. We've

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got the whole Martin Place precinct.

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As you think about the, the evolution,

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the development of those precincts, how

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do you think about the sort of the interconnectivity of

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those precincts so they don't become sort

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of , I suppose, islands?

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I sort of think of them as villages, right? I think of the

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vision that we've got is that over time it becomes

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a city of villages. And it becomes a bit like when you leave

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New York and you get on that plane and you go,

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I'm going back and next time I was in the Lower East

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Side, next time I'm going to go to Brooklyn, wherever it might be. So

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it's, you know, even a bit more than just the smaller

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precinct, but actually the village around that precinct

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that to me starts to give a bit of

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a destination to the city as far as that

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interconnectedness. You know, I think that's

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there's lots of different parts of that. That's communications,

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that's how we make it easy for visitors

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to explore and understand the differentials.

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And then of course, it's the other things like planning and

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roads and transportation and

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communications. All those things are important as well. But

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I think from the role we play, it's about understanding,

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you know, the offer that is greater Sydney,

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you know, it's not just the Opera House, the

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bridge and the harbor . They're amazing. No one

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can take those away from us. But, you know,

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those dining experiences in the Inner

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West, the Cabramatta Vietnamese food,

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the experience of the Northern Beaches, Parramatta,

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the Western Parklands city, that's what Sydney's

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about. And we've just got to get better at connecting

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those stories, both through our

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language as a marketing organisation, Destination

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New South Wales, but also as a state

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around the services and the things that we provide.

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So creating a

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world-class destination like Sydney requires a

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multitude of different dimensions and inputs.

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But of course, the built environment is

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an important part of that. So as

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you think about the property industry's role in

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helping you achieve your vision, what do

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you think we should be focusing on?

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Or how best can we deploy our resources?

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To help the thing that will keep people coming back, spending

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more, repeating their visitation,

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is really the product and the physical built

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form, the things that are here as well as of course

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that the service and the people interaction

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that they receive . So I would say to the Property

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Council, look the obvious one, Western Sydney. I

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mean, you've got a brand new international

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24-hour airport opening in

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December 26. If you look at our visitor economy

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strategy, you'll see there's an accelerate phase

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from 2026 to 2030. Large part

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of that is predicated off that airport.

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We've been at capacity or close to it at Sydney

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Airport for a long time. Flights

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have wanted to come to Sydney, but have had to go to other destinations.

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That is a massive opportunity for

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this city and the state more broadly. So

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I would be saying to the property industry, think about the

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western area of Sydney. There's

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enormous investment there with that airport that's

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coming along. And then how does that connect

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more broadly as well as into regional

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New South Wales? I wouldn't want to lose the regions because,

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you know, as more people come to Sydney, they're

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going to want to get out and we need more property and

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built form in those environments as well. That

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relate to those destinations.

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And Western Sydney also, I

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just have to highlight, Steve, I suppose the

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health innovation aspects and the

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attraction that that's going to create. International

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researchers and really put

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Western Sydney on the map around health innovation.

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Exactly, I met with all the Vice Chancellors of the universities in New

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South Wales. That's the kind of conversations

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that we're having. You've got to understand what that precinct

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represents. What's the destination? You know, one

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of our strategic items is lead with our strengths.

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You've got to understand what those strengths are and then

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just build them and be relentless at making sure

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you are the best. And that's why we set our vision to be the premier

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visitor economy of the Asia Pacific. Not

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to be the best in Australia, but I mean

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, we started with World, I did turn it back a bit. It's

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to be the best in the Asia Pacific , and that's

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what we all, the industry, government,

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ourselves , CBRE, we

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all need to work together and say, Sydney should

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be at the top of the pile . And I think we can be on

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so many fronts.

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Absolutely agree. Okay, so I've got one last question

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for you, Steve. That is, what is your most

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favorite thing to do in Sydney? I had to ask you that.

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Look, there's so many. I mean, there

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is no one. I mean, I'll pick a couple of really quick ones.

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White Rabbit Gallery, one of my absolute favorite art

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galleries in this city. I think it's under recognised

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by many people. Love it. Really amazing destination.

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A walk with Annie Margaret Campbell and Dreamtime Southern X,

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Aboriginal Walking Tour in the Rocks. You

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see the city from a whole different perspective as

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she walks around and talks about 60,000 plus

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years of culture in this city. That

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would be another one. And then, you know, great

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food, great dining near the beaches

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in the national parks, riding my bike. There's

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so much to do.

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Pretty hard to beat, isn't it? Steve, I wanted to thank you very much for taking the

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time. You're doing an amazing job. I think your

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vision is absolutely achievable, and we're

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all right behind you.

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Thanks Phil, and thanks to CBRE.

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Thanks for listening to Talking Property with CBRE. If

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you like the show and want to check out more, visit

8:53

cbre. com.au/slash talking

8:56

dash property, or subscribe through Spotify

8:59

and Apple Podcasts. Until

9:01

next time,