Beyond the Postcard: Unlocking the economic power of Sydney’s brand

The Committee for Sydney launched Sydney Global to address a simple but critical challenge: Sydney is not fully understood on the world stage. 

Tell almost anyone you’re from Sydney and you’ll instantly conjure images of sunshine, iconic architecture and glistening beaches. These images are the reason Sydney is one of the most recognisable and desirable cities on the planet.

But Sydney is so much more than a beautiful holiday destination. This narrow value proposition undersells the city. It overlooks the depth, diversity and ingenuity of the 5.5 million people who call Sydney home, and the rich cultural, educational and economic strengths that make the city special.

Unlike peer cities with integrated brand management, Sydney lacks a consistent, city-wide strategy beyond the visitor economy. Without a cohesive brand, Sydney risks falling behind, losing relevance, investment and global influence to better-positioned cities.

This report explores the opportunity of elevating our competitive advantage by presenting a more complete and compelling story to the world – one that reinforces our capability as a leading destination for talent, investment and ideas. 

Delivered in partnership with Deloitte Access Economics, the Beyond the Postcard report quantifies the relationship between Sydney’s global reputation and its economic performance, using the Global Soft Power Index as a benchmark. It shows a renewed approach to city branding could generate an additional $3.3 billion for Sydney’s economy.       

Where Sydney shines: 

• Sydney has five universities in the top 200 globally – in 2024, Sydney hosted more than 175,000 international higher education students (36 per cent of Australia’s total)
• Sydney attracts approximately 65 per cent of Australia’s startup funding, with one of the largest infrastructure investment programs in the world 
• NSW was the country’s top destination for business R&D investment in FY24, attracting $9.6 billion – nearly half of Australia’s total R&D spend 
• Sydney is the third most multicultural city in the world – more than half of Greater Sydney’s residents are first or second-generation immigrants, and more than 40 per cent speak a language other than English at home 
• In FY24, 120,886 people migrated to Greater Sydney from overseas – 28 per cent of Australia’s total net migration.