Splendour In The Grass & Parkes’ Elvis Festival win tourism gongs

Byron Bay’s Splendour In The Grass and Parkes’ Elvis Festival were acknowledged for their contributions at the Australian Tourism Awards on the weekend.

There were 200 national finalists in various categories.

Splendour was third (bronze) in the Major Festivals and Events category.

Gold went to the Toowoomba Carnival of Flowers in Queensland and silver to Formula 2018 Rolex Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne.

Other music finalists in the category included Darwin Festival and WOMADelaide in Adelaide.

Splendour draws 35,000 a day over three days.

A recent estimate put their spend at $25.4 million primarily on food/beverage and accommodation in the region, with 17,500 camping on-site, while the remainder stays in nearby towns.

As a tourism draw, Splendour’s coverage in global and Australia-wide media provides a tourism draw for the Byron region.

Byron Shire Council says that many of them boost up tourism dollars with holidays and lifestyle events before and after the festival.

The Parkes Elvis Festival also took Bronze in the Festivals and Events category, which was topped by the Mount Isa Mines Rotary Rodeo and with Perth’s CinefestOZ taking silver.

Another music finalist in the category was Riverboats Music in Victoria.

The tiny NSW festival of Parkes drew 27,000 this year 2019, and pumped $12—15 million into the local economy.

Parkes Shire Council general manager Kent Boyd says that the festival provides an opportunity to promote the Parkes region.

“The marketing campaign around the festival and Parkes region received 250 million hits on social media last year,” he reveals.