Steven Haggart plants roots for major Garden Expo in Sydney
If Steven Haggart has his way, Australia’s next big tourism attraction will be a garden show in Sydney over six months.
Byron Bay-based developer Steven Haggart is staking his career on a $2 billion eight-year project to transform Sydney’s tourism infrastructure with a grand scheme to build the southern hemisphere’s first gardening expo.
Until 12 months ago, Haggart, a British-trained architect, was chief executive of aggressive Chinese development group Ridong, which is building $5bn worth of projects including the $1.2bn Jewel Tower on the Gold Coast.
Now he is negotiating with several state and federal government departments to secure access to part of Sydney Olympic Park at Homebush Bay — about 75ha of the entire 405ha green space, which he says is under-utilised. The plan is to develop a garden expo that will be in place for six months in 2020 to celebrate the 250th anniversary of Captain James Cook’s arrival on Australian shores.
“Sydney needs a permanent series of attractions. We forecast four to five million people would come to the Garden Expo over the six months, spending an average six hours at a time, so there would be a lot of economic impact,” Haggart says.
“We have found the obvious place to put it in Sydney Olympic Park; we want to celebrate the legacy of the 2000 Games, which were the greenest games ever.”
But if he can’t convince the state and federal government, he says he would find a new strategy to deliver it. “There is too much intellectual property around it to forget about it.”
Haggart acquired the Australasian licence to the international garden exposition about 18 months ago. Since December, he has been negotiating and advancing discussions with Sydney Olympic Park and NSW and federal government officials. He said various states including NSW, Queensland and Victoria, had previously made attempts, spending millions of dollars, to secure the licence.
But he has a tight time frame.
“We are three years out and we need to move quickly; there are several state and federal government ministries involved. At the end of the day we need government to endorse it. On the face of it it’s a tourism gig, but fundamentally it has underlying trade and cultural exchange opportunities for Australia’s major trading partners.”
Haggart sees the endless possibilities of tourism in the Garden Expo, claiming an estimated 300 million tourists travel the world each year visiting garden attractions and events, according to a recent British report and Graham Ross, chairman of the Australian Garden Council. “There’s an opportunity for Sydney to put its stamp on the international garden tourist market by holding a six-month international event. The garden would be the backdrop to a big entertainment program and festival underpinning the whole event. Other states have held successful garden events, albeit at five days’ long. Melbourne, Perth, Adelaide and Nambour (Queensland) have successful ones each year.”
Haggart’s vision for Australia would translate into an additional four million visitors to Sydney, the participation of more than 60 countries, the generation of one million extra hotel room nights and the injection of more than $1bn of visitor spending into the local economy over the six months.
“I want to put this on the map as one of the top five things to do when international and domestic tourists visit Sydney, after the Sydney Harbour Bridge, Opera House, Blue Mountains and public beaches,” he says.
It seems a no-brainer, and Haggart is pushing federal and state government departments with his plan after a similar scheme failed on the Gold Coast.
He is attempting to form a public-private partnership to deliver the project.
In a nutshell, he needs government endorsement.
The six-month-long event is based on a net positive revenue model and supports the NSW government strategy of attracting significant international events to the state, he says.
He would also need help marketing it to international and domestic travellers and would tap Tourism Australia and Destination NSW.
If it proceeds, the Garden Expo is projected to be the third biggest event ever held in Australia after the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games and the Brisbane Expo. And it is projected to be four times larger than the Commonwealth Games next year.
Haggart has forked out about $1 million of his own money on travel and promotion in his attempt to get the project across the line. But the ultimate decider is NSW Premier Gladys Berijiklian.
“To most people it ticks all the boxes as far as government is concerned,” Haggart says.
GARDEN EXPO FACTS
• Research says more people garden at the weekend in Australia than play sport
• Expo would involve the participation of more than 60 countries
• Could attract about 4 million visitors
• Generate 1 million additional room nights of accommodation
• Deliver over $1 billion of visitor spending into the local economy
• Garden Tourism research estimates 300 million tourists travel the world every year visiting garden attractions and events