‘Almost impossible’ to turn a profit at Vivid as stallholder fees bite small businesses

Vivid finished for 2024 with a whimper: crowds down an estimated 1 million, organisers slammed for drone show disasters, steep food prices and ‘uninspiring’ free displays, and stallholders left in the red.

Punters have whacked the offerings at this year’s Vivid Sydney, describing the light show as “boring” and “unimpressive.”

With small businesses claiming they lost money on the event, and the Premier forced to apologise over a last-minute cancellation of the drone show, readers have delivered strong feedback to the organisers, Destination NSW.

“We went last Sunday and were and were very unimpressed. 8 kilometres of walking to see absolutely nothing. Not happy Jan” wrote Kelly.

David wrote: “I went on the public holiday weekend. There were no attractions. The streets had nothing compared to years before. Over-hyped. Vivid is now becoming a big disappointment.”

In regards to the high food prices, Sandy said “high cost of stall rental equals high cost of food, blame the organisation that puts the price on stall rental … this is a blatant rip off.”

Despite the foreshore crowds, prime dining in the Rocks was deserted.

Maxwell agreed: “It’s a victim of its own success. Greediness driving the rental cost to stall holders. It also does not help that Sydney Rail insists on shutting down the trains every night at 7.30, and all weekend for track maintenance.”

Other readers highlighted the cost of the best exhibits this year: “we did the Wynyard tunnels, it was pretty cool but a paid event” Adam remarked.

“The free stuff wasn’t that great and we ended up leaving the city earlier than planned.”

CROWD DOWN 1 MILLION

Preliminary estimates indicate attendances at this year’s Vivid, regularly considered the jewel in the crown of Sydney’s major event calendar, are down 1 million people on last year’s record turnout.

NSW Premier Chris Minns offered an apology to people who attended the event on Saturday night, only for the drone show to be cancelled at the last minute.

A number of photos and videos taken midweek show The Rocks and parts of the CBD resembling a ghost town, with empty chairs at restaurants and some stall holders forced to close early.

The much-vaunted Vivid Food Trail, all but empty at 7.43pm on a Thursday. Picture: Supplied

High prices at food vendors, like this sausage sizzle, were also off-putting to visitors. Picture: Reddit

One small business owner said the cost of renting a stall at the event made it “almost impossible” to make a profit.

“Last year there were drone shows on Wednesdays and over the weekend. This year they scaled them back. That badly hurt trade,” they said.

“And the Overseas Passenger Terminal sometimes charges you more than $25,000 for a nearby stall … which includes a daily administration fee and the cost of hiring an electricity generator.

It comes after The Daily Telegraph reported that small businesses say they have done their dough at this year’s Vivid Sydney light show.

They blame the outrageous cost of renting a stall in the CBD, and the decision by organisers to scale back the most popular attractions.

“They are then entitled to a percentage of your final sales, plus GST. A lot of people I know have lost money.

“This was one of the reasons why some of the food prices were so expensive.”

Andrea Eraso, the owner of Bird & Ewe in Surry Hills, served her modern Australian street food at a stall in The Rocks.

“It was very quiet during the week. We had hours sometimes without any customers and there were stalls closing early.” Ms Eraso told The Daily Telegraph.

“I’ve been left with 15 kilograms of fresh salad, plus meat and bread which I will have to try and sell at discount through the restaurant this week.”

DRONE SHOW FURY

In a disastrous final night for Vivid Sydney, as large crowds gathered along the foreshore, the magnificent “Love Is In The Air” drone show was cancelled.

Despite rain and wind in Sydney over the weekend – drone operators said they conducted weather checks throughout the day and by 7pm were confident of it going ahead.

However, they claimed a last-minute warning of a storm approaching forced them to cancel the show.

A message timestamped 8:43pm was then posted on Vivid Sydney’s social media channels reading “unfortunately, due to forecasted weather conditions, the Vivid Sydney drone show will not proceed this evening.”

Deserted some nights, and dangerous on others – Vivid’s previous drone shows caused a crowd crush.

With the show due to start at 9.10pm, hundreds of people responded angrily to the cancellation.

One wrote: “Many families with children have been waiting here eagerly for hours.”

Other people said they had travelled from Adelaide and Brisbane for the event.

During a press conference on Sunday, Premier Chris Minns said: “A lot of kids and families were looking forward to last night. It is deeply regrettable and I am sincerely sorry.”

The government maintains a reduction in funding for Destination NSW did not impact Vivid. Picture: Supplied

Vic Laruso, the CEO of the Australian Traffic Network, who own the drones, said “flying drones in poor weather could lead to malfunctions or collisions, posing significant safety hazards to the audience.”

Last year The Daily Telegraph reported that the budget for Destination NSW’s major events budget had been underfunded by more than $100 million. However, a Government spokesperson insisted this had not impacted funding for Vivid.

In a statement, Transport Minister John Graham said: “Vivid Sydney’s free offerings were never more important than in 2024, with families across Sydney and NSW able to come into the city and enjoy the festival during this cost-of-living squeeze.”

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Originally published as ‘Almost impossible’ to turn a profit at Vivid as stallholder fees bite small businesses