George Street initiatives may bring business prospects
A recent development in the City of Sydney Council's quest to develop light rail and a pedestrian boulevard down George Street may come as a surprise to stakeholders.
The panel at the 'City Conversations' discussion at lower Town Hall on Tuesday (May 22) were in unanimous agreement on the subject – all in favour of the initiative.
The consensus came as a shock to some industry representatives, not least Trent Zimmermann, the Tourism and Transport Forum national manager for transport.
"It's not every day a local council, even one as big as the City of Sydney, puts $180 million on the table, it's not every day we have such strong agreement between businesses and levels of government, and it's not every day we have such strong popular support," he said.
"To have the small bars, big bars, property developers, retailers, the tourism industry and council all on stage agreeing with each other is about as common as a solar eclipse."
The effort to increase accessibility, efficiency and convenience will likely draw more business to the city's main attractions and most popular areas.
Potential for increased commercial traffic highlights prospects for Sydney property investment as it will likely attract residential opportunities with the ability to connect different parts of the city faster.
It will also support tourism as travellers will be able to see more and do more without spending all of their time in transit.
"The proposed George Street transformation will be a saviour for visitors to Sydney, many of whom spend most of their time in the CBD," said Mr Zimmermann.
"Using global positioning system tracking, a University of Technology Sydney study showed tourists generally don't venture further south of Central Station, north of the Harbour Bridge or West of Darling Harbour and that they walk enormous distances – up to 35 kilometres a day."
The tourism industry brings roughly $28 billion annually to the economy of New South Wales. With greater accessibility in the state capital and Australia's largest city, that number could be much higher.
"While tourists love to explore, a lot of kilometres are spent backtracking and going around in circles because Sydney's public transport and walkways are not tourist-friendly," said Mr Zimmermann.
Property investment and commercial enterprise may stand to benefit from the mobility gains of the George Street initiatives.
Posted by Grace Neale
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