Joyce DiMascio
Head of Business Events Australia
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19 February 2010
Dear Industry Colleague,
Welcome to our first e-news of 2010, a year that we hope brings you all great success. Insights from industry point to improvements to business conditions for our sector – this is good news after a tough 2009.
The Business Events Australia team has been working closely with partner Bureaux across the country on short-term stimulus activity for the domestic business travel sector. Around 15 initiatives worth $2 million will be progressively rolled out over the coming weeks. These have been funded dollar for dollar by industry and Tourism Australia through funds brought forward from our 2010/11 budget (see story below). From delegate boosting, business booster campaigns and buyer educationals – all are designed to promote Australians travelling around the country to attend business events.
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Also coming up, we are strengthening our ties with other Australian Government agencies that can support the business events sector. In particular we will be working with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Austrade, the Department of Innovation, Science, Industry and Research, and of course, the Department of Immigration and Citizenship who are so crucial to the smooth processing of visas.
We are delighted to be back at AIME in Melbourne next month, doubling our stand presence with key national partners. We will have a full program of activities at AIME including a Business Events Leaders’ Forum, media conference and on-stand appointments schedule. We warmly invite you to drop by the Australia stand (number 1218) for an appointment with one of the team or come to our receptions on Tuesday 2 March at 5.00pm and Wednesday 3 March at 3.30pm.
It’s a big year for us in China – with the 12th TABEE to be held in Beijing from 15 to 17 March and then an exciting program to showcase Australia to hosted clients at Expo2010 in Shanghai from 17 to 18 June. We will soon be releasing details of an exciting new industry partnership program targeting the Asia region.
Another exciting development is that the Indigenous tourism team at Tourism Australia have put together a great marketing resource to improve the access to Indigenous tourism product for meetings and conferences. Australia can deliver a unique experience to international delegates by including an experience delivered by our traditional Australians in the conference program. Check out the new portal (see link below).
Finally, we welcome our new Managing Director, Andrew McEvoy. Andrew is very keen to see Tourism Australia make a real difference in the sector. He has a background in business events and we are very pleased to welcome him back to Tourism Australia after his three years heading up the South Australia Tourism Commission.
My best wishes to you all for a successful 2010, the Year of the Tiger.
May we all see renewed strength in our operations.
Best wishes,
Joyce DiMascio
Head of Business Events Australia
Tourism Australia |
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New co-operative program announced
On 27 February, the Minister for Tourism, the Hon. Martin Ferguson AM MP, launched a new $20 million cooperative program to stimulate travel. The program includes $2 million of activity to stimulate business travel within Australia. The cooperative program launch follows the Minister’s announcement in October 2009 to bring forward funds from Tourism Australia's 2010/11 budget to assist the industry to capitalise on the global economic recovery.
Tourism Australia received several expressions of interest from the business events industry, highlighting the industry’s eagerness to partner in growing business events in 2010. Fifteen projects are under consideration, with $1 million to be contributed by Tourism Australia and matched with a $1 million contribution by convention bureaux and state and regional tourism organisations.
A number of major business conventions, which are scheduled for Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, and Canberra, will receive funding for delegate boosting.
Marketing campaigns in Victoria, New South Wales and Cairns will promote the value of meeting in outstanding regional destinations. Perth, the Northern Territory, Whitsundays and Tasmania have proposed a range of tactical and educational programs which will receive funding support.
To read the media release, click here. |
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Business Events Australia stand
partners at AIME 2009
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Boosted AIME 2010 program
Business Events Australia will be participating at the Asia-Pacific Incentive and Meetings Expo (AIME) in Melbourne from 2-3 March 2010 with an expanded presence and full marketing program.
We are delighted to have four stand partners join us at AIME. The Australia Pavilion will comprise Business Events Australia, Baillie Lodges, Delaware North Parks & Resorts, Encore and ID Australia. |
The Australia Pavilion will double in size from 2009. We invite all business events operators at AIME to join us at the Australia stand (number 1218) on Tuesday 2 March for a reception at 5pm.
Tourism Australia has designed a comprehensive media program to leverage the trade event platform, including an official media conference and schedule of international media interviews. In addition, Tourism Australia’s new Managing Director Andrew McEvoy will be attending AIME to experience our industry in action.
Following the very positive response to the Business Events Leaders’ Forum held at Dreamtime 2009, Tourism Australia will be holding its first Leaders’ Forum for 2010 as part of its AIME program. The Leaders’ Forum will bring together industry CEOs to focus on innovation and thought leadership in our sector. The thought provoking program of speakers will be released shortly.
The Leaders' Forum will be held on Wednesday 3 March from 10.30am to 1.00pm at The Melbourne Exhibition Centre. If you are a senior manager and would like to apply for one of the limited places, please click here. |
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TABEE 2010 to produce real results for sellers
The upcoming Team Australia Business Events Educational (TABEE) will take place in Beijing, China, from 15 – 17 March 2010. It is set to be one on the year’s best opportunities for Australian sellers to do business with the lucrative Asian corporate meetings and incentives market.
The Australian contingent will consist of eight Convention and Visitors Bureaux and 20 operators, including convention centres, hotels, attractions, venues and destination management companies. |
They will be meeting with around 35 incentive travel agents and 35 corporate end-users from across 11 key Asian markets. Trade media and consumer business publications from Australia and across Asia will also attend.
The three day event provides a platform for buyers and sellers to meet face-to-face in a structured business environment and extends a warm Australian invitation with Australian team building activities and a gala dinner. We look forward to TABEE 2010 continuing last year’s success, when over 56 pieces of real business were negotiated.
For more information, please contact Thomas Hill, Business Events Trade Programs Manager, Tourism Australia. |
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Artist impression of Australia
Pavilion at Expo2010 |
Australia at EXPO 2010
Expo 2010 will be held in Shanghai, China, from 1 May to 31 October 2010. The Shanghai Expo will be the largest in history, with an estimated 70 million visitors expected during its six months of operation.
Australia’s visually striking pavilion will be located at the heart of the expo site, on the banks of the Huangpu River in downtown Shanghai. |
The pavilion will showcase Australian innovation, creativity and achievement. It will respond to the Expo 2010 theme, “Better City, Better Life”, by showcasing Australia’s cities, which are consistently ranked as among the world’s most liveable.
Dynamic and engaging exhibits, an energetic team of bilingual staff, a rich cultural program and unique retail, food and beverage options will introduce visitors to the sights, sounds and tastes of Australia.
Tourism Australia, in partnership with the Association of Australian Convention Bureaux, will showcase Australia as a business events destination to a selected group of qualified buyers from across North Asia on 18 June. Buyers will be invited to “see our pavilion, experience our country” through a tour of the Australia pavilion. They will later join Tourism Australia’s North Asia in-region managers, Australian convention bureaux and destination representatives at a gala dinner in the pavilion. Around 50 corporate end users and incentive travel organisers will experience first-hand the quality and style of Australian food and wine, as well as be briefed on Australia’s business events facilities and world leading delivery capabilities.
This program will provide an excellent platform to build relationships between Australia’s leading destinations and some of our most valued corporate clients in China, the Republic of Korea and Japan. |
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Stand out from the crowd with an Indigenous theme
The Indigenous tourism sector is rapidly evolving and offers a wonderful diversity of experiences to add a layer to business events. By enhancing business events with Indigenous involvement, meeting and conference organisers can demonstrate social responsibility whilst at the same time providing a unique experience for attendees.
An inspiring ‘Welcome to Country’ sets a tone of acknowledgement and inclusiveness, recognising traditional ownership of the land on which events are held. Indigenous themed gifts, catering and performances can be integrated into any event across Australia. For a more in-depth experience, link in with Indigenous owned activities, tours and conference venues where meeting itineraries can be arranged at some of Australia’s most exclusive locations.
Check out our new directory of Indigenous product suitable for business events on the Tourism Australia Indigenous Tourism web portal. |
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The Great Green Team Carbon Neutral & Organic Team Building
VictorsFood is now offering carbon neutral, organic cooking team building activities. To make its interactive cooking events carbon neutral and organic, Victors buy Climate Friendly offsets and use only certified organic ingredients which support minimal food miles and local growers.
VictorsFood is an Australian company whose mission is to help people develop individually and interpersonally through food by learning, having fun and eating well. The company offers interactive culinary experiences including team building, cooking parties, corporate events and market tours.
This is a new example of ways to integrate corporate social responsibility principles across every part of your business. |
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GDAY LA Dreamtime reunion
In January, Tourism Australia hosted meeting & incentive buyers from the USA at a ‘Dreamtime Reunion’ in Los Angeles during the GDAY LA celebrations.
The elite group of buyers, who attended Dreamtime in the Red Centre and Sydney last October, were given a full weekend of Australian immersion in the GDAY LA events program. Minister for Tourism, the Hon. Martin Ferguson AM MP, hosted our buyers at a cocktail function where they shared stories about their Dreamtime experience and discussed opportunities to grow their business to Australia over the next 12 months.
Our ‘Dreamtimers’ were then treated to a night of Australian style as special guests at the GDAY LA Black Tie Gala Dinner. The dinner showcased Australia’s cultural and entertainment exports, as well as highlighting our destination as a world class tourism destination.
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The following day, our buyers attended Tourism Australia’s ‘Come Walkabout in Beverly Hills’ consumer event, where they learned more about the latest Australian tourism experiences as presented by our State partners and tasted fine Australia wines. The event focused on Australia’s nature and adventure and food and wine experiences, which are fundamental to any great Australia incentive program.
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EIBTM shows results for partners
EIBTM, one of Europe’s premium global meeting and incentives exhibitions, offers an excellent opportunity for Australian business events industry partners to meet, network and conduct business. In December 2009, the Australia Pavilion hosted 10 Australian stand partners including convention bureaux, convention centres, destination management companies and hotels from around Australia.
The results of a seller survey conducted with the stand partners revealed strong business leads for Australia: |
- 87.5% were satisfied or very satisfied that participating at EIBTM enabled them to meet new
contacts and distribute their product to buyers.
- 100% were satisfied or very satisfied that participating at EIBTM enabled them to develop new
business and leads; and
- 37.5% of Australia stand partners developed more than 16 business leads, another 12.5%
developed more than 11 business leads.
The next business events forum in Europe will be the International Confex to be held in London from 23-25 February 2010. Tourism Australia will be represented in the Long Haul Village and will promote Australia’s business events capabilities to targeted event organisers. |
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Delegates and hosts at the MCG
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India and South-East Asia famil
Two groups of corporate end-users from India and South-East Asia recently visited the Gold Coast and Melbourne as part of a joint effort by Gold Coast Tourism, the Melbourne Convention + Visitors Bureau and Tourism Australia.
The groups experienced Australia’s beach culture, theme parks, shopping, wildlife, food and wine and attractions. They also had the opportunity to inspect a number of convention and exhibition facilities. The highlight of the visit was being hosted to an evening session at the Australian Open Tennis Championship. |
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Bid wins for Australia and events calendar
In partnership with the Australian Association of Convention Bureaux (AACB), we have assembled an impressive inventory of the meetings that are due to be hosted in Australia. The calendar, updated in September 2009, is attached here and will assist you with planning. It is a testament to the outstanding results being achieved by our industry.
Also attached here is a link to our events calendar which is updated weekly and hosted on businessevents.australia.com. |
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Jennifer Tung, MCVB; Edward
Chen and Faline Lin, Tourism
Australia; Sinead Yeo, BE
Sydney and Cynthia Lim, Gold
Coast Convention Bureau
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Taiwan Business Events corporate dinner and agent seminar
Each year, the Tourism Australia Business Events Team hosts many events across Asia aimed at updating corporate event organisers and incentive agents about new products and trends in Australia’s business events industry.
In December 2009 in Taiwan, Tourism Australia jointly hosted a dinner with China Airlines. It was supported by Business Events Sydney, Melbourne Convention + Visitors Bureau and Gold Coast Tourism. More than 110 corporate guests enjoyed an evening of Australian food and wine, while 48 incentive agents from across Taiwan came together for an agents' seminar on Australia. |
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Convention / conference statistics – December 2009 results out now
As part of Tourism Australia’s monthly updates on conference and convention visitor arrivals, the Business Events Arrivals – December 2009 Report is now available.
During the year ended 31 December 2009, there were 145,400 convention or conference visitor arrivals, a decrease of 23 percent year-on-year.
There were 9,100 convention or conference arrivals during the month of December 2009, an increase of 11 per cent year-on-year.
The best performing convention or conference markets to Australia by country of residence for the three months ended 31 December 2009 were Thailand, USA, United Kingdom and Japan with increases of 38, 37, 28 and 16 per cent respectively.
For more information, please contact Leah Fletcher, Senior Market Analyst, Corporate Strategy and Research Aviation and Economic Analysis. |
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