119 new events coming to Adelaide, Australia

The Adelaide Convention Bureau, in advising its end of financial year result, has announced it has won the rights for Adelaide to host 119 national and international conferences valued at $150.6m. Of note, is that the international events won in the past 12 months will bring a record number of overseas visitors to Adelaide as conference delegates.

The 119 events to be held at venues across Adelaide will result in 180,231 bed nights for our hotels in the coming years in which they are to be held.  Importantly during these tough economic times, this result will generate more than 1,350 jobs for the city and state.

Meanwhile, in the past 12 months to June 30, the Bureau reports that 202 events were held in Adelaide from previous successful tenders.  These events generated more than $198m for the visitor economy, with the 61,643 visitors providing 191,723 bed nights for the hotels and 1,655 jobs.  

“We’ve had the world’s top engineering, scientific, medical and business experts in Adelaide in recent times – the prospects they bring to our local industry within their genre is priceless” said Damien Kitto, CEO Adelaide Convention Bureau.         

“The opportunities for Adelaide right now are exciting.  The Bureau’s strategy over past years has been to promote and build upon the development happening in the city and with a number of projects now complete, it’s paid off. We know from attendance at national and international trade events there is immense interest in what is happening in Adelaide – we’re the ‘flavour of the month’ so to speak.  The time is now for South Australia to seize the moment and capitalise on every aspect of the business and take advantage of the interest in and prospects available” he said.

It is no co-incidence that in a huge coup for Adelaide, the city is hosting three significant trade events this year with each having the ability to deliver invaluable numbers of conferences and visitors to the destination.  The National Associations Forum Conference was held in July and the Professional Conference Organisers Convention in December will see hundreds of the most influential business events decision makers in the country visit Adelaide to meet, network with local industry and tour its facilities.   Furthermore, Adelaide was named as the host city for Dreamtime 2015, Tourism Australia’s premier showcase event for international corporate event and incentive travel buyers and trade media. 

“It’s an honour and a rarity for one destination to host all three of these highly important events in one year and they will present us with incredible opportunities.   “We’ve had a record year, right now we’re sitting on a further $260m of pipeline business and the relatively small but highly effective Bureau team is working at a cracking pace to ensure every lead, every chance to chase down and secure an event for Adelaide is grasped” said Mr Kitto.

The success of the Adelaide Convention Bureau and its Team Adelaide partners in securing these events and the visitors they will bring to town cannot be underestimated in its influence by hotel operators to enter or expand their current portfolio in the state.

In the past months, builds by Accor, Starwood Hotels, IHG and Choice Hotels worth over $200m have been announced whilst SilverNeedle Hospitality recently launched its Sage Hotels brand in Adelaide.

“The Bureau’s record year is good news for everyone, as welcoming new visitors to Adelaide helps us to become an even more vibrant city.

 “In particular, our retail and hospitality sectors stand to benefit from this strong performance, as delegates are generally here during the working week and inject, on average, $632 per day into the city economy,” said Lord Mayor Martin Haese.

For more information, visit: www.adelaideconvention.com.au