Sydney in the top 10 of global business meeting destinations

Sydney has jumped 17 places and is now ranked number 10 out of 364 global business meeting destinations in the 2010 International Convention and Congress Association (ICCA) ratings.

Within the Asia Pacific region, Sydney is ranked as the number two business events destination, second only to Singapore. In 2010, Sydney hosted almost half of the total number of meetings attributed to Australian cities.


“The result is a strong indication of the robustness of Sydney’s meetings industry and our ability to deliver world-class meetings, events and conferences,” said Jon Hutchison, CEO of business events sydney (BESydney). “ICCA’s country and city rankings are highly regarded. This outstanding result will bring renewed interest in our destination that will have a considerable impact on future global business opportunities for Sydney.”

To date this financial year, BESydney has secured 66 business events which are expected to generate $185 million for the economy, 50 percent more than what was achieved this time last year.

“Sydney’s strengths in key subject fields coupled with the city’s collaborative approach to delivering event outcomes are important factors that are moving Sydney up in global preferences,” says Mr Hutchison.

In the ICCA rankings, Sydney’s closest Australian competitor is Melbourne, ranked 40th in the world. Vienna and Barcelona topped the global listings in first and second position.

“I’ve been incredibly impressed by BESydney’s rigorous use of ICCA’s research tools to identify prospective business, and to aggressively market Sydney to international associations,” said Martin Sirk, CEO of ICCA. “It’s no surprise to me that they’ve climbed high in both ICCA’s world and regional rankings.”

ICCA is recognized as the official record and producer of annual world city rankings for the global congress, conventions and meetings’ industry. To qualify, these events must also rotate between global destinations, and have been held in three international cities across the span of its lifetime. In 2010, Sydney hosted 102 meetings that fit these criteria.

Key meetings held in Sydney during 2010

•    7th International Orthodontic Congress: economic impact $20 m
•    9th Annual World Congress of the Human Proteome Organisation: economic impact $7.5 m
•    4th Asian Pacific Congress on Computational Mechanics: economic impact $3.6 m
•    4th Scientific Meeting of the Asian Pacific Menopause Federation: economic impact $3.4 m
•    11th Asia Pacific Conference on Giftedness: economic impact $2.9 m
•    7th Asia Pacific Regional Rotaract Conference: economic impact $1.8