17 October 2008

SydneyÃ¢â¬â¢s Celebrations to Boost Business Events

Sydney's passion for celebrations will be put to work in a campaign to win more business events for the harbour city following the launch of the Events New South Wales 'Master Events Calendar'.

Unveiled this week by New South Wales Premier Nathan Rees, the calendar brings together a succession of spectacular events with a total annual economic contribution of A$500 million.

New and existing events have been united in three festival seasons each winter, spring and summer, offering international arts festivals and exhibitions, sporting events, food fairs, visual arts and the spectacular New Year's Eve celebrations held each year on Sydney Harbour.

Business Events Sydney Chief Executive Officer Jon Hutchison welcomed the Master Events Calendar and said the initiative would provide an invaluable asset in pursuing new business events for Sydney.

"We now have a comprehensive schedule of public events, around which we can create yet further opportunities to attract business events to Sydney," Mr Hutchison said. "Sydneysiders have a great passion for celebrations, so we plan to invite delegates from international business events to join the festivities."

Mr Hutchison said Business Events Sydney would target corporate event and incentive organisers, inviting them to build their events around some of the stand-out festivals and celebrations staged in Sydney.

"China has become an extremely important growth market for incentive events, which offers a great opportunity to combine business events with Sydney's Chinese New Year celebrations, the world's largest outside Asia," Mr Hutchison said.

Business Events Sydney's participation in the Master Events Calendar is part of a wider partnership with Events New South Wales aimed at increasing Sydney's standing as Australia's top business events destination.

Formerly the Sydney Convention and Visitors Bureau, Business Events Sydney was responsible for bringing an additional A$145 million worth of business events to Sydney during the past financial year and has embarked on a strategy to lift the city into the world's top ten international conference destinations within five years.

Mr Hutchison said the Master Events Calendar would add yet further appeal to Sydney's bids for international business events.

"In the past year we've achieved a success rate of 71 per cent in bidding for business events, which is proof of Sydney's powerful appeal and the professionalism of our events industry," Mr Hutchison said. "In a climate of increasing competition from interstate and overseas, we plan to fully exploit Sydney's extraordinary assets in further developing our place as one of the world's great events destinations."

A Report by The Mole