Parramatta’s Visitor Economy
Parramatta is the beating heart of Greater Sydney’s visitor economy, attracting major events, infrastructure investment and a growing visitor base. Join the growth story and position your business to thrive in a dynamic, diverse and rapidly expanding market.
Invest in Parramatta's Visitor Economy
Parramatta is rapidly emerging as Greater Sydney’s most dynamic visitor destination - a city powered by major cultural institutions, next generation transport links and a booming visitor economy.
From hospitality and retail to entertainment, accommodation and tourism services, Parramatta offers unparalleled potential for businesses ready to invest in a thriving, future focused market.
The city is being reshaped by some of Australia’s most significant cultural and transport investments - including Powerhouse Parramatta, the Riverside Theatres redevelopment, Sydney Metro West and the Parramatta Light Rail. Together, these projects are unlocking unprecedented connectivity, cultural vibrancy and visitor growth, positioning Parramatta as Greater Sydney’s next major destination.
Why Parramatta?
Why Parramatta?
Parramatta is outperforming Greater Sydney in visitor economy output and employment growth. The numbers tell a compelling story:
- $1.9 billion in visitor spend between May 2024 and May 2025
- 60% of local consumer spending driven by visitors
- Overnight and international visitation back to pre pandemic levels
- Visitor economy employment growing 4.5% per annum since 2018/19
- Local business numbers up 20% since 2019/20
This is a market with real demand and real opportunity.
Download City of Parramatta’s Visitor Economy Report (2025) for an in depth look at the local Visitor Economy sector or dive deeper below.
Visitor Spend and Economic Output
- Approximately two thirds of night-time movements in the CBD are from visitors from outside the area, rising to 84% during the day
- Visitors are primarily spending on discretionary retail and tourism and entertainment – specifically restaurants and cafes – indicating that these activities are strengths for the City
- Domestic overnight visitors and international visitors were rising pre-pandemic and, following a fall, are back to pre-pandemic levels. Expenditure by overnight visitors was +18% higher in 2021-2024 than in 2016-2019
- Over 60% of spending is attributable to visitors to the LGA – totalling $1.9bn between May 2024 and May 2025
Visitor Economy Businesses
In 2023/24, over 2,400 businesses serviced Parramatta’s visitor economy – around 7% of all businesses in the LGA.
- 85% of these are in food & beverage and retail
- Visitor economy businesses grew 20% between 2019/20 and 2022/23
- The number of visitor economy businesses grew faster (+20%) than the total business base (+16%) between 2019/20 and 2022/23.
- The number of accommodation (+58%), creative & performing arts (+44%), and sports & recreation (40%) businesses have grown strongly since 2018/19.
Workforce Growth
Over 20,300 people are employed in Parramatta’s visitor economy
- Visitor economy employment has grown at a faster rate than the wider economy, driven by strong post-pandemic growth in the food and beverage sector
- Visitor economy employment has grown more strongly than in benchmark LGAs between 2018/19 and 2023/24 and is well above the Greater Sydney average of -0.2%.
- There has been particularly strong employment growth in food & beverage, accommodation, sport & recreation and heritage activities
Parramatta has seen a strong recovery post-COVID with total jobs and businesses exceeding pre-pandemic levels, fuelled by major events and Parramatta’s positioning as a global city (Parramatta 2050).
Driving Economic Value
Parramatta’s visitor economy contributed:
- $3.3bn in economic output (5.8% of Parramatta’s total economic output). This grew sharply in the last two years due to strong growth in the food and beverage sector (+$200m since 2018/2019) and sports and recreation ($130m).
- 6.1% of Greater Sydney’s visitor economy output is attributed to Parramatta in 2023/24 (up from 4.6% in 2018/19).
- Parramatta’s achieved the highest growth in visitor economy - from $1.1 billion to $1.6 billion - a 36% increase and Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 6.3%. This exceeded growth in benchmark LGA’s and Greater Sydney overall (1.2%).
- Visitors alone contributed $2.6bn in economic output and $1.6bn (5.7%) in value added to the Parramatta economy.
- $1.2bn in value added Parramatta recorded the strongest growth in output and value added among benchmark LGAs (43% and 36% respectively).
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