In what will be one of Business Events Australia’s largest ever outings at an international tradeshow, 20 partners will join Tourism Australia at IMEX America this week to showcase the country’s energy, enthusiasm and options for business meetings, incentive travel, conferences and events.
Up from 16 stand partners in 2011, Australia’s presence at IMEX America coincides with a significant increase in visitor numbers from the U.S. to Australia. It is also evidence of Australia’s firm commitment to the U.S. business events market.
“Australia is hot on the radar for U.S. business events, and is committed to assisting U.S. business event organizers to send their clients to Australia,” said Penny Lion, head of Business Events Australia. “We are seeing strong interest and confirmed business from the United States for Australia’s luxury incentive and large conferences destinations.”
In the fiscal year that ended July 2012, the U.S. market delivered an 18 percent increase on the previous year in one of the highest business arrival percentage increases of any of Tourism Australia’s key markets. This result was achieved by 120,249 U.S. business arrivals and 20,686 convention and conference arrivals to Australia, thereby cementing the U.S. as second largest source market for business events visitors to Australia after New Zealand.
“The market is definitely recovering from the impact of the economic downturn and, as we can see from the size of our presence at IMEX America, Australian suppliers are eager to invest in the United States,” said Lion.
Major conferences won by Australia highlight the country’s strengths in infrastructure, meetings delivery and service. The G20 will hold its 2014 Summit in Brisbane, the Gold Coast will host the 2018 Commonwealth Games and Melbourne will host the 2014 AIDS Congress which is expected to attract up to 14,000 delegates.
“Australia is not only committed to delivering world class events, we’re also committed to having world class infrastructure,” said Jane Whitehead, vice president and regional general manager for the Americas of Tourism Australia.“Some new and exciting projects have been announced in recent months including the opening of new luxury hotels, QT Sydney and QT Resort Port Douglas, the brand new resort villas at SKYCITY in tropical Darwin, and the Gold Coast’s new five-star Hilton.”
Tourism Australia has evolved its global There’s nothing like Australia business events marketing campaign with new advertising creative that will be seen in the U.S. market starting in October. The campaign is supported by the new businessevents.australia.com website and is designed specifically to meet the needs of incentive and meeting planners with a focus on providing the information and inspiration needed to create winning proposals.
“Sydney has announced a major international project to create a 12-hectare dedicated precinct for events up to 12,000 people,” said Whitehead. “There’s never been a better time to bring your business event to Australia.”
