“Cities have the capability of providing something for everybody, only because, and only when, they are created by everybody.”
Jane Jacobs, American urbanist & activist
Visitor numbers are an important measure of a destination’s success, but they aren’t the only one.
The more meaningful question is what those visitors leave behind.
Does their spending and activity support local jobs? Do they create opportunities for surrounding businesses? Do they help families build more secure lives? And does the destination continue contributing to its community long after the visitors have gone home?
We’re not just planning an attraction people will visit in @Winter Sports World. We’re creating a year-round economic asset for Western Sydney.
Once Australia’s first indoor snow resort reaches steady-state operation, it’s projected to support 1,350 permanent jobs and inject approximately $222 million into the Western Sydney economy each year.
That’s the visitor economy at its best: turning the movement of people into lasting local prosperity.
Beyond the turnstile
When we talk about major visitor attractions, the conversation often begins and ends with attendance.
How many people will come? How much will they pay? How long will they stay?
Those figures are important but they only tell part of the story.
A successful destination creates economic activity well beyond its entrance.
It employs people, purchases goods and services, attracts complementary businesses and encourages visitors to spend more time in the surrounding region.
Its value is not confined to the ticket sold at the door. It extends to every wage paid, meal served, room booked, service contracted and additional experience included in the visit.
Winter Sports World is forecast to attract more than 1 million visits a year in its base case. Those visitors will come for snow play, ski and snowboard lessons, the 300m open run, hospitality, retail and events.
Each visit has the potential to become part of a much larger Western Sydney experience.
Creating an employment ecosystem
Winter Sports World is expected to create 1,350 construction jobs during the build and another 1,350 permanent operational jobs at steady state.
Those operational positions will extend across the resort, with roles in snow operations, instruction, coaching, equipment hire and guest safety; hospitality, retail, events, administration, maintenance, refrigeration, lift operations, building services and venue management.
The steady state payroll is projected to reach approximately $38 million annually.
That money doesn’t simply disappear into an economic model.
It becomes household income helping to pay mortgages, rent, power bills, groceries, education and recreation. It’s spent again in supermarkets, cafés, shops and service businesses across the region.
This is important at any time, but particularly during a cost-of-living crisis. Secure jobs and dependable incomes give households greater confidence and help local economies withstand wider uncertainty.
Not every job will require previous experience in the snow industry.
Winter Sports World will need people with skills already found throughout Western Sydney, while also creating opportunities to train in specialist areas Australia has never supported at this scale.
That combination can produce entry points for young workers, new directions for experienced employees and genuine pathways from frontline roles into technical, supervisory and management positions.
Important year-round operation
Seasonality is one of the visitor economy’s perennial challenges.
Businesses cannot always retain experienced employees when demand rises and falls sharply across the year. Workers may need to piece together several jobs, relocate between seasons or leave the industry altogether in search of more reliable income.
Our indoor, climate-controlled environment changes that equation.
The resort won’t depend on natural snowfall, low temperatures or the length of the outdoor ski season. It will operate year-round for up to 18 hours a day, with predictable snow conditions.
That provides a stronger foundation for permanent employment, staff development and consistent relationships with suppliers.
It also means visitor activity can occur across ALL school holidays, weekends, weekdays and traditional tourism shoulder periods. Families may come for snow play, beginners for lessons, experienced skiers for conditioning and athletes for training. Schools, sporting organisations and corporate groups introduce further patterns of visitation.
A more diversified audience creates a more resilient destination – and a more resilient economic contribution.
Destination within a destination
Photo: Destination NSW
Location will be central to Winter Sports World’s wider impact.
More than 5.5 million people live within a one-hour drive of the site. Western Sydney International Airport is approximately 15 minutes away, while the Blue Mountains, Nepean River, Penrith’s adventure attractions and an increasingly diverse hospitality sector are all within reach.
This creates opportunities to connect WSW with the wider visitor economy rather than operate as an isolated attraction.
Someone flying through the new airport could add a snow experience to a short Western Sydney stay. A family visiting WSW might also book local accommodation, eat at a nearby restaurant or spend another day exploring Penrith and the Blue Mountains. Sporting, school and corporate groups may build broader itineraries around their visit.
The goal should be to grow the overall value of visitation, not simply capture spending inside one building.
Collaboration between attractions, accommodation providers, transport operators, restaurants and tourism organisations will be essential. The stronger those connections become, the further visitor spending can travel through the region.
A destination should be more than a place people briefly consume and leave.
At its best, it becomes part of the economic life of its community. It gives people reasons to visit, businesses reasons to invest and workers reasons to develop their careers locally.