Sydney continues to boost its enviable reputation as the first place in Australia to do business, topping the country’s results in the International Congress and Convention Association’s (ICCA) Country and City Rankings Report*. The harbour city ranked number one in Australia for conferences and congresses and number 24 worldwide, a rise of ten places from [...]

NSW Deputy Premier Andrew Stoner congratulated Business Events Sydney’s (BESydney) Ambassadors for their assistance with generating almost $400 million in economic impact for New South Wales. Speaking at the annual Ambassador Dinner and Investiture, Mr Stoner acknowledged the value of business events as a key driver of both the State’s visitor and knowledge economies. “Business events [...]

The management and staff of the Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre had good reason to celebrate this week by collecting four awards at the annual Meetings & Events Australia’s national Industry Awards of excellence. Prime convention and exhibition centres in Brisbane, Adelaide and on the Gold Coast also collected major awards, highlighting the nationwide quality [...]

Sydney has shone brightly once more, with Australia’s leading convention bureau, Business Events Sydney (BESydney), taking out the national Metropolitan Destination Marketing Organisation Award at last night’s Meetings and Events Australia (MEA) Awards. Held at the Darwin Convention Centre, the annual awards were among the highlights of MEA’s 26th National Conference, which ran from 4-7 [...]

After just two months on the market, the Melbourne Convention Bureau (MCB) has already significantly expanded its Melbourne Values You program, now presenting more than 100 offers from premium hotels, venues and service providers throughout Victoria, Chief Executive Officer Karen Bolinger announced during ATE. Melbourne Values You is an initiative launched at the 2013 Asia-Pacific [...]

Asia-Pacific’s great minds and industry leaders in solar and hybrid technologies are to join forces in the Top End in the latest coup by Darwin Convention Centre. Thanks to a joint effort with the Global IDN and the Northern Territory Convention Bureau (NTCB), next year will see Darwin’s award-winning convention centre host the second Asia [...]

Driven by the demand from the meetings and events industry for online business tools, the Brisbane Event Planning Directory  is now the go-to tool for those holding an event in Australia’s new world city. The new Brisbane Event Planning Directory includes a powerful search engine and dynamic, up-to-date content, viewable on both tablets and smartphones, [...]

Business Events Geelong have launched its new website at the Asia-Pacific Incentives and Meetings  Expo (AIME), Australia’s largest conference and exhibition trade show in Melbourne this month. The new website has been designed using industry leading responsive web design, which intuitively configures the screen information to suit the device on which it is being used. In [...]

Today, an Amendment Bill in relation to the Export Market Development Grant (EMDG) scheme will be introduced to the House of Representatives, proposing to remove ‘event promoters’ from the scheme. The EMDG scheme is a key Australian Government financial assistance program for aspiring and current exporters. Administered by Austrade, the scheme supports a wide range [...]

Townsville Enterprise Convention Bureau has confirmed more than $9,074,088 worth of confirmed conference and event expenditure for the Townsville North Queensland Region during the financial year to date. Townsville Enterprise General Manager Tourism & Events, Patricia O’Callaghan, said Townsville is enriched with diversity and appeals to Professional Conference Organisers from a number of industries. “The conferences, [...]

Brisbane’s meetings and events industry is booming in 2013, as it prepares to take the world stage. The city’s reputation as a world-class destination for business events was endorsed by the announcement it would host the G20 Leaders Summit in 2014. Brisbane will host up to 4000 delegates and 3000 domestic and international media at [...]

An exciting art school is giving business events groups the opportunity to fully immerse themselves in Tasmania’s art culture. Situated within the Salamanca Arts Centre, The Nolan Art Gallery and School caters for individuals and groups with a range of tutorials, hands on classes, team building activities and demonstrations. With access to the beautiful historic [...]

The Brisbane Marketing Convention Bureau has launched a range of initiatives designed to support convention organisers to create outstanding events in Brisbane. The Convention Support Toolkit, Brisbane Event Planner, Brisbane video and image library and the new Choose Brisbane brochure have all been launched in time for AIME. The  Brisbane Convention Support Toolkit brings together [...]

The Melbourne Convention Bureau (MCB) has launched a new initiative that will make Melbourne even more alluring to the international incentives market. The program, Melbourne Values You, presents a series of special offers for incentive and corporate travel reward planners, designed to make booking and planning an event in Melbourne not only seamless, but cost [...]

The Melbourne Convention Bureau has launched a new piece of collateral to showcase Melbourne’s convention district, reinforcing the city’s status as Australia’s business events capital. This four-kilometre-wide area follows the Yarra River from the cosmopolitan Docklands in the west to Melbourne’s world-renowned sporting precinct in the east, and encompasses the city centre from the arts [...]

The Melbourne Convention Bureau (MCB) has launched the next phase of its positioning campaign Melbourne IQ: The Intelligent Choice for Conferences. Melbourne IQ: The Intelligent Choice for Conferences – A Guide to Bidding for International Conferences is an initiative targeted at potential local hosts to encourage them to partner with MCB and bid for an international association [...]

Event planners that request a bid from Business Events Tasmania in 2013 for a genuine business event* could find themselves on one of two 6-day island getaways. Every bid requested results in an entry into the draw to be rewarded with an itinerary exploring the iconic East Coast or dramatic West Coast of Tasmania. This [...]

Brisbane’s hotels are experiencing massive growth and renewal with more than $AU88 million spent on refurbishments and upgrades in the past financial year, and a further $AU28 million in the pipeline for 2013. These figures, from the Queensland Hotels Association (QHA) reflect confidence in the Brisbane market and its ability to cater to business events [...]

The NTCB and its 19 industry partners headed to AIME 2013 with exciting times ahead for the Northern Territory (NT). Increased air services, National Tourism Award wins, strong Corporate Social Responsibility relationships underway and the pending arrival of a new hotel brand in the NT all bode well for 2013. Jetstar has announced that in June, [...]

Gold Coast Tourism joined 20 local business event operators in Melbourne this week (26-27 Feb) for Australasia’s biggest business events forum – the Asia Pacific Incentives and Meetings Expo (AIME). The annual event is an opportunity for the Gold Coast’s international profile to hit new levels as the city gears its promotional momentum towards the [...]

Business Events Sydney (BESydney) will continue to lead the charge in shining a spotlight on the true value of the business event industry. Speaking at a press conference at AIME today, CEO, Lyn Lewis-Smith, discussed how the bureau has successfully shifted the focus on business events in New South Wales (NSW) to now include both [...]

Business Events Sydney (BESydney), in partnership 12 co-exhibitors, will shine the spotlight on Sydney’s spectacularly bright future at this month’s Asia-Pacific Incentives and Meetings Expos (AIME). Held at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre from 26-27 February, AIME is the Asia-Pacific region’s must-attend event for the meetings and events industry. Sydney and NSW’s world-class venues [...]

Chief Executive Officer of the Melbourne Convention Bureau (MCB), Karen Bolinger, today announced a complete re-brand for the organisation.  MCB, formerly known as the Melbourne Convention + Visitors Bureau, now has a new brand complete with a new logo and, most significantly, a new name, removing the word ‘Visitors’ to adequately reflect its core business of attracting [...]

 A Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programme launched this week in the Hunter Valley, that is designed to help organisations meet their CSR goals, is also aimed at supporting local charities, community and environmental programmes. Recognising that many organisations take their CSR role very seriously and like to incorporate this into as many aspects of their [...]

Melbourne LIVE! will be the theme for the highly anticipated Asia-Pacific Incentives & Meetings Expo (AIME) 2013 official Welcome Reception, the Melbourne Convention + Visitors Bureau (MCVB) announced today. Tickets are now available for the event, to be staged at South Wharf Promenade – Melbourne’s newest wining and dining precinct, which will invoke Melbourne’s famed [...]

Chief Executive Officer of the Melbourne Convention + Visitors Bureau (MCVB), Karen Bolinger, has today announced changes to its representation in North America and offices in Asia. In North America, Myriad Marketing will replace Mondotels who have represented Melbourne in a sales capacity for the past 14 years. The appointment will see two dedicated Melbourne [...]

The Melbourne Convention + Visitors Bureau (MCVB) today launched the 2012-13 edition of the Melbourne Planners’ Guide, which for the first time is available as an interactive e-book. As part of MCVB’s digital strategy, the online version of the Guide has been revitalised to a format that can be easily accessed by event planners on [...]

More than 4,000 Indian delegates arrived in Melbourne today for the Amway India Leadership Seminar 2012 in what will be the largest Indian incentive group ever to be hosted in Australia. A global leader in direct selling with over three million independent business owners (IBOs) in over 80 countries, Amway will use the event to [...]

Victorian Minister for Tourism and Major Events, Louise Asher today announced that Melbourne will host Australia’s inaugural Business Events Week from 25 February to 1 March 2013. Speaking at the opening of the Exhibition & Event Association of Australasia’s conference at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre (MCEC), Ms Asher said Business Events Week will [...]

The Adelaide Convention Bureau was named winner in the “Best Tourism Marketing” category for its annual Destination SA famil and tradeshow event at the South Australia Tourism Awards ceremony held in Adelaide on Friday 23rd November. This third consecutive win (2010 award was for the Bureau’s re-brand campaign and 2011 award for Conventions Adelaide Program) [...]

Business Events Sydney (BESydney) has capped off a winning 2012 walking away with top honours for Specialised Tourism Services and the silver prize for Business Tourism at last night’s NSW Tourism Awards 2012. Hosted at Le Montage by the Tourism Industry Council NSW, the awards recognise organisations that have achieved outstanding success and furthered the [...]

The peak body for attracting business visitors to South Australia, the Adelaide Convention Bureau has released its 2012 Q3 results. To date this year, 82 events have been successfully attracted to Adelaide and regional South Australia with a resulting economic benefit of almost $60 million to be injected into South Australia from nearly 27,000 business [...]

From a world-first discussion about communications in war-torn countries including Afghanistan to conversations about the Asian Century and defining PR campaigns of the 21st century, next week’s World PR Forum will truly demonstrate ‘communication without borders’. More than 800 leading communicators from 30 countries will gather in Melbourne from Sunday 18 November for the seventh [...]

Perth Convention Bureau (PCB) will celebrate 40 years of bringing the world to Western Australia on Wednesday, 7 November at the Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre. The Bureau was officially established in September 1972, making Perth one of the first Australian State capitals to form a dedicated convention marketing organisation. Chief Executive Officer, Paul Beeson, [...]

Malaysia Convention & Exhibition Bureau (MyCEB) recently launched its brand new campaign named “Malaysia- Asia like never before.” Targeting global corporate and incentive markets, the integrated campaign is supported by the new Corporate and Incentive Guide as well as a series of print and digital advertisements campaign. According to Ms. Ho Yoke Ping, General Manager, [...]

Scott Boyes, Regional General Manager of Accor NSW and ACT, has been elected to the Business Events Sydney’s (BESydney) Board of Directors following its Annual General Meeting on Tuesday. Complementing the impressive breadth of expertise of the existing Directors, Mr Boyes is an experienced hotelier, having worked with Accor Asia-Pacific since 1994. Mr Boyes joins [...]

Minister for Tourism and Major Events Louise Asher announced today that Melbourne has secured 14 association business events in the first quarter of 2012/13, which will generate a forecast $27 million for the Victorian economy. Melbourne has been awarded nine international and five national conferences, which will attract an estimated 7550 delegates to Victoria over [...]

Chief Executive Officer of the Melbourne Convention + Visitors Bureau (MCVB), Karen Bolinger, today announced the appointment of Jasmine Lim to Director, International Incentives. Ms Lim has been with MCVB for six years, starting out as Regional Sales Manager, South East Asia before being promoted to Regional Sales Director, South Asia in 2009. Ms Lim [...]

Brisbane’s reputation as a world-class destination for business events was internationally recognised this week with the announcement the Brisbane Convention Bureau had received an international award for the quality of two of its guides. The Brisbane Marketing Convention Bureau’s Meeting Planners Guide and Unique Venues Guide were awarded the silver medal in the Best Brochure [...]

Melbourne Convention + Visitors Bureau (MCVB) Chairman, Chris Barlow, has today announced another year of impressive results for the organisation, with the 2011/12 financial year seeing MCVB deliver its best results on record in terms of estimated room nights and forecasted economic impact. “Across the business MCVB secured 210 international and national business events for [...]

The Adelaide Convention Bureau AGM held at the Morphettville Racecourse at 8am on Thursday 27th September has seen the appointment of Michael Sfera and Martin Haese to the board with the full board listed below. Addressing the members, Adelaide Convention Bureau Chairman Mr Phil Baker said the hard work and strategic direction of the Bureau [...]

The Canberra Convention Bureau welcomes the ACT Government’s announcement of the hosting of the G20 Finance and Bank Deputies Meeting in Canberra. This meeting is a dividend of the strategy produced by the Bureau in August; “CANBERRA 2014 G20: A PROPOSAL TO HOST BUILD-UP EVENTS IN THE NATIONAL CAPITAL”. “The Finance and Bank Deputies Meeting [...]

Australia’s largest entertainment and events precinct will be delivered in Sydney’s Darling Harbour with advice from one of the world’s most respected convention and exhibition industry experts. Barbara Maple has held a series of major international positions, including Past President of the Association Internationale des Palais de Congrès (AIPC), former Chair of the World Council [...]

Brisbane’s growth as a world-class business events destination will be showcased through a new Brisbane Convention Bureau famil campaign designed to introduce interstate meeting planners to Brisbane’s best business events products and suppliers. The Grow Famil Campaign is a series of two-day familiarisation experiences to connect meeting planners and professional conference organisers to Brisbane’s new [...]

Business Events Sydney’s (BESydney) Sales Research Executive Christina Barton has been selected as one of the 20 future leaders to attend the International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA) Forum for Young Professionals at the Exhibition for Incentive Business Travel and Meetings (EIBTM) in Barcelona in November. The ICCA Forum for Young Professionals (FYP) gathers the [...]

The Canberra Convention Bureau (CCB) today congratulated the Canberra Centenary team on the launch of the exciting new program planned for the 2013 centenary celebrations. The CCB has been actively supporting the work of the Centenary over the past few years as the facilitator for the Centenary conference program. “Currently we have 60 confirmed conferences [...]

The Association of Australian Convention Bureaux (AACB) staff conference will be held at Voyages Ayers Rock Resort from 6-8 September 2012. The conference program, with a theme of “Get CeNTred”, is attracting over 80 convention bureau staff from aroundAustralia. It has been developed by Tourism NT and the AACB. Delegates will undertake a Corporate Social [...]

14 individuals will have the chance to win a total of $90,000 towards attendance at a relevant international conference by applying for the 2013 Aspire Awards. The awards are in conjunction with the City of Perth, City of Mandurah, Royal Australasian College of Surgeons (RACS), Western Australia’s top five universities – Curtin University, Edith Cowan [...]

Prospective buyers looking to join the Asia-Pacific Incentives & Meetings Expo’s (AIME) popular Hosted Buyer Program in 2013 can now benefit from significant savings, with the organisers announcing a 10 per cent ‘Early Bird’ application fee discount for all Hosted Buyer applications submitted before 26 October 2012. The 21st anniversary AIME, to be held on 26-27 [...]

Minister for Tourism and Major Events, Louise Asher, today announced the 19th Congress of the International Society for Human and Animal Mycology (ISHAM) 2015 will be hosted in Melbourne. The Congress, which is expected to attract more than 800 delegates from across the globe to the city over five days, will generate an estimated AUD [...]