The glitter has settled, the rainbow floats are parked and the results from Sydney's WorldPride LGBTQI extravaganza are in.
Nearly 70,000 tourists from 71 countries descended on Australia's harbour city for the 17-day festival in February and March, surpassing all expectations and marking Sydney's biggest event since the 2000 Olympics.
Among them were 21,000 international visitors, mainly from the US, the UK, Germany, New Zealand and Canada, spending an average of $497 each night.
The results are part of a Deloitte Access Economics analysis released by WorldPride organisers.
It shows the parties, performances, talks and events across 17 days in February and March drew in an audience of 1.08 million people and drew $235m in visitor expenditure to the state.
Organisers initially forecast the festival would inject $100m into the NSW visitor economy.
Tourism Minister John Graham said the high expectations for the event were "outperformed and well exceeded".
Sydney WorldPride and similar events lead to real change in community attitudes, policies and laws, WorldPride chair Damien Hodgkinson said.
He said the 2023 event was a "big, colourful shout from the rooftops" to people of all walks of life that "it's okay, you are okay!"
A survey of more than 10,000 attendees suggested a fifth changed their mind about an issue of gender or sexuality following the event.
Among LGBTQI attendees, the vast majority said the festival increased their sense of belonging, self-esteem, hope for the future and safety in Sydney.
The overwhelming majority also agreed the festival enhanced Sydney's reputation as an inclusive and diverse city and arts and entertainment capital.
The festival's centrepiece - a Human Rights Conference - gave 227 presenters from 43 countries a platform to speak about their LGBTQI experiences throughout the world.
The Deloitte analysis will be studied by the government as an example of crafting its approach to future major cultural events and tourism.
