Louise Asher, minister of tourism and major events in Melbourne, Australia, has announced that Melbourne will host Australia’s inaugural Business Events Week from Feb. 25 – March 1, 2013.
Speaking at the opening of the Exhibition and Event Association of Australasia’s conference at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Center (MCEC), Asher said that Business Events Week will be a week-long program of activities designed to showcase the value of business events.
“Business events generate extensive economic wealth for the local, state and national economy,” said Asher. “In Victoria alone, business events inject more than $1.2 billion annually…In May this year, the International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA) recognized Melbourne as Australia’s number one city for conferences and congresses in its annual Country and City Ranking Report, so it is fitting our city is taking the lead on driving this initiative which we hope will become a national event in the coming years.”
Karen Bolinger, CEO, Melbourne Convention and Visitors Bureau, said that the organization was very proud to be hosting the inaugural Business Events Week.
“Having a week dedicated to business events is a major coup for our industry, and we firmly believe it will assist us in communicating how valuable the industry is to the Australian economy,” said Bolinger.
