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Newcastle Herald
Newcastle Herald
Business
Sage Swinton

Pink hotel bookings stronger than previous concerts as $9 million injected

Tuesday's Pink concert performed stronger than both Elton John and Paul McCartney for one of the city's two five star hotels, according to its general manager.

More than 34,000 people attended the February 13 concert at McDonald Jones Stadium - eclipsing the previous two concerts, and injecting an estimated $9 million into the Newcastle economy.

More than 80 per cent of the ticket purchases came from outside Newcastle, while about of those 7.5 per cent were from interstate.

"I would say particularly for my hotel, it was the strongest performing concert we've had since opening so outperforming Elton John and Paul McCartney," QT Newcastle general manager Michael Stamboulidis said.

Mr Stamboulidis, who is the chair of the Newcastle Tourism Industry Group, said the average daily room rate for hotels across the CBD was 45 per cent higher than the same Tuesday last year.

"The length of stay extended beyond the night of concert," Mr Stamboulidis said.

"Saturday really kicked it off.

"If you tried to book a hotel anywhere in Newcastle CBD you would have been absolutely sleeping on someone's couch, pretty much from Saturday.

"The market was fully constrained."

Mr Stamboulidis said the stadium concerts were "without a doubt" the biggest drawcard on the calendar for accommodation providers in Newcastle, but also provided a significant boost for hospitality and retail businesses.

The Newcastle Tourism Industry Group organised a "Pink party trail" in the lead-up to the concert with $60,000 from City of Newcastle's Special Business Rate grant program.

The trail included a giant disco ball and dancefloor in Wheeler Place as well as more than a dozen businesses holding Pink themed specials and a chance to win one of five corporate double passes to the concert for every $50 spent in a participating business.

A City of Newcastle spokesperson said more than 1000 people visited the Wheeler Place disco ball and dance floor activation. More than $10,000 was also spent at participating businesses by more than 200 people who entered the competition to win tickets.

"The intention was to use Pink as a bit of a catalyst," Mr Stamboulidis said.

"The previous two concerts, Paul McCartney and Elton John, NTIG actually went about it their own way without the SBR Grant and put together a small goodie bag for pretty much any licensed venue that wanted to participate and just get behind those two acts.

"With Pink we took a different direction. We obviously we had the SBR grant we then had the BIAs (Business Improvement Associations) contribute $10,000 and the NTIG also contributed $10,000.

"So we had a decent kitty to draw from to really activate the city and draw traffic into those venues pre and post concert which we certainly did.

"What this has now set up is to go bigger and better for every major concert in Newcastle."

City of Newcastle said the concert cemented Newcastle "as a must-stop destination on the national concert tour schedule".

"City of Newcastle is proud to have worked with Venues NSW through our strategic partnership to bring Pink and her high energy show to our city," the council spokesperson said.

"We look forward to securing new and exciting events for our community and as a key economic and tourism driver for the region."

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