SYDNEY WELCOMES YEAR OF THE DOG

The sails of the iconic Sydney Opera House have turned red to mark Lunar New Year and the start of the 2018 Year of the Dog.

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian and Minister for Multiculturalism Ray Williams welcomed the beginning of the New Year, marking the ‘lights on’ moment at a community function.

“Sydney is proud to host the biggest Lunar New Year celebrations in the world outside China,” Ms Berejiklian said.

“The events held here in NSW already attract thousands of people and are growing every year.”

The number of Chinese visitors to Sydney during Chinese New Year has grown on average by 11 per cent annually since 2013.

“This year Chinese New Year is expected to attract 105,000 visitors to NSW,” Ms Berejiklian said

“These extraordinary figures are the result of hard work from the NSW Government to make our State the first choice for Chinese visitors.”

“NSW is home to more than half a million residents of Chinese ancestry and Mandarin is the most common language outside of English spoken at home,” Mr Williams said.

“Lunar New Year is a unifying celebration of our multiculturalism, also celebrated by various communities across the globe including Indonesia, Singapore, South Korea, Malaysia and Vietnam.”