The 18-day Vivid Sydney festival of light, music and ideas attracted over 1.43 million people, breaking the 2013 attendance record.

According to NSW Deputy Premier and Minister for Tourism and Major Events Andrew Stoner, Vivid Sydney attracted 79 per cent more attendees in 2014, with the total number exceeding the population of Adelaide and surpassing the total number of international tourists to Fiji last year.

Mr Stoner said the Vivid festival attracted visitors came from across the State, throughout Australia and from around the world. There were more than 19,500 international travellers on Vivid Sydney travel packages, up 74 per cent on 2013. Local retailers also benefited from the bumper attendance numbers, with many operators reporting huge increases in patronage due to Vivid.

Mr Stoner said all Vivid precincts had proven popular with festivalgoers after expanding into five new precincts this year – Martin Place, the University of Sydney, Carriageworks, The Star and the Harbour.

The largest festival of its kind in the Southern Hemisphere was also a social media giant in 2014. The Vivid Sydney Facebook page received over 870,000 likes, reaching an average of 2.8 million people per day and more than 3.4 million on launch day.

Mr Stoner said Vivid’s reach went well beyond those who visited Sydney through the extensive media coverage it attracted throughout the festival. Audiences from more than 190 countries and territories also had the opportunity to marvel at Vivid from afar through extensive global media coverage.