Wings Over Illawarra organisers have defended a decision to bill their popular Shellharbour-based event as “The Sydney Airshow”, saying this new tagline will help attract more outsiders to the region.
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After more than a decade operating from the Illawarra Regional Airport, the annual event has this year started using the slogan “Australia’s best annual airshow right on Sydney’s doorstep”.
Advertising campaigns and the event’s logo include “The Sydney Airshow” tagline, raising eyebrows of some Illawarra residents.
Shellharbour mayor Marianne Saliba said she was “very disappointed” to hear the event, started by the council in 2007 and contracted out to current operators Bright Events, being promoted as a Sydney airshow.
“Wings Over Illawarra is a really big event for the Illawarra, it was started by the council and HARS to create an opportunity for people in our region to connect with aviation in our region,” she said.
“It’s sad that it’s being called the Sydney airshow, because it’s not – it belongs to the people in the Illawarra region.”
Read more: Wings Over Illawarra airshow on May 5 and 6
Likewise, independent councillor Peter Moran said he was “stunned”, and believed the new advertising disregarded the Illawarra’s “distinct identity”.
But Bright Events’ business development manager Steve Visscher argued the new advertising strategy boosted the reputation of the Illawarra.
“This is the closest major airshow to Sydney, so we really want to bring more people down here to the Illawarra,” he said. “While it’s very well known here, historically it hasn’t had as much pull in the Sydney market – and one of the requirements of Destination NSW, our major sponsor, is to bring people to this region.”
He said the event put about five or six million dollars into the Wollongong and Shellharbour economy each year, and had this year “sold out every hotel in the Illawarra region”.
“It was a bit of a gamble, but this is not about ignoring the Illawarra – we’re trying to actually bring people into the region, which is good for everybody,” he said, noting there had been some criticism on social media about the new tagline.
“We’ve been doing a lot of marketing in the Sydney media market.”
Ms Visscher said a similar airshow held in Avalon was billed as Melbourne’s airshow, despite being within the city of Geelong.
“Geelong people would have the same concerns as people in Wollongong about it being branded as a Melbourne airshow when it’s actually in Geelong, but it’s all about the tourism dollar,” he said.
“So this is the best way we can think of to support Shellharbour and the Illawarra – by bringing more people here and bringing money to local businesses.”
Cr Saliba said she could understand the need to convey the close proximity of the Illawarra show to Sydney residents, but believed it would still be better to see the show being linked to a local identity.
“Ideally I would like to see it being called a Shellharbour event, but I’m prepared to accept the Illawarra – but it’s especially disappointing to see the Sydney airshow,” she said.
“I don’t want us to be an extension of Sydney, I want us to be a separate region and I’m fighting to get that happening so that we can have ‘regional’ status under the government – this type of branding makes things a little bit more difficult for us.”
Wings Over Illawarra is not the first local tourism company to associate itself more with Sydney than the Illawarra.
For instance, Helensburgh wildlife park Symbio tells visitors it is a “southern Sydney” zoo and Skydive Australia’s North Wollongong drop zone is promoted as being in “Sydney-Wollongong”.
Kate McIlwain
For more than a decade, I've helped the Illawarra Mercury set the news agenda across the region. Currently I'm the paper's health reporter - covering the stories of Illawarra workers and residents in the wake of a global pandemic and at a time where our health systems are stretched to the limit.
For more than a decade, I've helped the Illawarra Mercury set the news agenda across the region. Currently I'm the paper's health reporter - covering the stories of Illawarra workers and residents in the wake of a global pandemic and at a time where our health systems are stretched to the limit.
