NSW Tourism Big Winner In "Visionary" Convention Centre Announcement

The $1.5billion plan to transform Darling Harbour into a tourism and convention mecca has been welcomed by the local tourism and accommodation industry.
NSW Premier Barry O'Farrell has announced the "Destination Sydney" consortium would deliver a new convention complex featuring a new 900-room hotel and 40,000 square metres of convention space.
Tourism Accommodation Australia NSW) director Carol Giuseppi said the plan was exactly what Sydney needed.
"We welcome the visionary nature of the project which moves beyond simply a convention and exhibition centre to a design which encompasses the total visitor experience," she said.
"The new facilities will ensure that Sydney attracts more of the lucrative business events market.
"Up to 10% of activity in Sydney hotels is generated from business events, therefore, a modern, state of the art competitive facility is vital.
"In particular we welcome the planning for additional 3.5 star hotel rooms on the site."
Ms Giuseppi said she was also pleased with plans for the redevelopment of the Haymarket area.
"For too long this has been the neglected part of the city," she said.
"This proposal includes a much-needed creative quarter in that area with a mix of boutiques, special-interest retail and cafes and restaurants.
"This makes it even more important that we improve connectivity between this area and the rest of the CBD via light rail. Together with the revitalisation of Chinatown this area will become magnet for visitors."

(Source: Travmedia 11/12/12)

SICEEP to ‘blow away’ MCEC

 THE NSW Tourism Minister has declared the redeveloped Sydney Convention + Exhibition Centre (SCEC) will not just rival that of Victoria’s prime conference venue, but “blow Melbourne out of the water” when it opens by 2017. Speaking with BEN, George Souris - who is also the Minister for Major Events - referred to the size of the project as “humongous”, enabling Sydney to offer greater competition to the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre. “It’s going to be a long year, but we are building something twice the size of what we were initially planning,” Souris said. Facilities include what’s billed as Australia’s largest exhibition space, at 40,000sqm, and the country’s biggest convention hall capacity for 10,000 people over four different spaces. While the Sydney International Convention, Exhibition & Entertainment Precinct’s design is still to be finalised, the Minister confirmed the project was likely to result in events being turned away during the rebuild stage. Questioned if the substitute Glebe Island facility - along with other alternative venues across the city - would result in conferences being hosted intrastate, Souris said “I’d say so.” “We’re hoping to make sure we cover the bases, but there will be events that will say ‘We’ll be back in a years time”. He said the SICEEP would take the better part of two years to construct, with the existing SCEC closing from Dec next year. Classed for all intents and purposes as a ‘pull down, start again’ project, Souris believes the SICEEP design will integrate some of the existing halls of the SCEC during its redevelopment.Within the project is a brand new build hotel for Sydney, sitting just below the 5-star standard. Souris was unable to comment on which hotel group was linked to the project, but confirmed it would not compete against The Star’s ‘6-star’, The Darling. As detailed in the November update on the SICEEP website, a “hotel use” site is earmarked for the Northern Sector of the precinct near the water at the existing Convention Centre. Two groups of companies have submitted bids to design, plan and operate the new facilities, Destination Sydney and VeNuSW. Among VeNuSW’s partners (via a joint venture with Plenary Group) is Hilton Worldwide. Back in June, Hilton Worldwide announced plans to debut its DoubleTree by Hilton brand in the Australian market with a new build property in Karratha, WA, saying at the time the DoubleTree brand has potential growth prospects in Australasia.

(Source: Business Events News 5/12/12)

Source Furniture & Furnishings for Your Venue - Australian International Furniture Fair

DOORS OPEN IN 3 WEEKS...

Refurbishing? Refreshing? Reinvigorating your venue? Or starting from the ground up?

Make sure you register today to ensure you're first to source the latest in commercial furniture, furnishings, floorcoverings & lighting from some of the industry’s biggest & best suppliers.

Australia’s only commercial furniture & furnishings showcase will be featuring some of Australia’s most experienced commercial manufacturers and suppliers for you to visit including:

BINDI FURNITURE - began crafting timber furniture over 65 years ago and can be found in nearly every 5-star hotel in Sydney.

ZANZIBAR FURNITURE - over 25 years’ experience and 3 million handcrafted pieces supplied.

L RITOSSA FURNISHERS - established in 1965 and are the choice of Royalty.

PAPILLION FURNITURE - have been helping architects, interior designers and contractors transform their concepts into beautiful furniture for over 15 years.

AH BEARD COMMERCIAL - have been helping Australian’s sleep for over 110 years.

LOUNGE INNOVATION - started seating guests 25 years ago and are one of Australia’s leading designer and manufacturers of upholstered furniture.

NUFURN - established 16 years ago, specifically catering for contract hospitality, healthcare and event segments and have expertise to simplify your commercial furniture fitout.

ISLANDER IMPORTS - premier supplier of wicker, rattan & cane furniture within Australia and around the South Pacific for over 3 decades.

With this much experience under one roof, you can be assured you will source the expertise you need to fit out your venue and create the right ambiance for your guests.

VIEW EXHIBITOR LIST & MAKE APPOINTMENTS TODAY

Hotel + Hospitality Furnishings should be your first choice for sourcing furniture and furnishings for your venue. REGISTER TO VISIT

The Internet Show Exhibition - Over 2500 Pre-Registered Visitors

The Internet Show Sydney
27-28 October 2011
Sydney Convention Centre, Sydney, Australia

Would you like to drive more traffic to your website? And make more sales when they get there? And do you need to develop a social media strategy? Then pre-register now for Australia's internet business event.

Over 2500 visitors have pre-registered to visit the free Internet Show exhibition! If you have not pre-registered to visit the exhibition, are you missing out on the opportunity to learn from experts and get latest updates in the industry?
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The Internet Show Sydney is Australia's largest event of its kind dedicated solely to covering internet related issues for business. It provides the ideal environment for you to learn from the experts and gain hands-on experience with the latest products and solutions.

Over 60 free education seminars will be running across the 2 exhibition days.
Pre-register for the seminars now >

The seminars cover Social Media strategies, Content management, Connectivity & Collaboration, E-commerce & Payments or Digital Advertising and Marketing. These have been designed so you can move freely between the different seminar rooms and listen to the presentations that are important to your role.
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The Internet Show Sydney

AGE 2011: Hoteliers Anticipate 2011's Biggest Trade Event!

As the emphasis on differentiation of the venue offering continues hoteliers will look to Australia’s best showcase of hospitality innovation for new ways to exceed their customer’s expectations and streamline their venue operations. Be it the latest in gaming products, exceptional food and beverage or improvements in back of house operations the AGE guarantees to impress.

The event will be held on 21-23 August at Sydney Convention & Exhibition Centre and over 5000 Australian and international visitors will attend. This timing is of great benefit as a number of industry events will take place at the same time, allowing non Sydney metropolitan hoteliers to maximise their time whilst away from their venue.

The Australasian Gaming Expo has historically been the primary platform for the launch of new products by more than 150 trade exhibitors and 2011 will once again see the event host the newest and most exciting product and technology developments of the last 12 months.

As the flagship exhibitors of the 22nd AGE the GTA member organisations Ainsworth Game Technology, Aristocrat Technologies, Aruze Gaming Australia, Bally Australia, IGT (Australia), Konami Australia, ShuffleMaster Australasia and WMS Gaming Australia will combined display over 700 new gaming machines across their 8 exhibition stands as well as a host of new poker machine software and gaming systems.

Hospitality suppliers of all shapes and sizes will also attend to exhibit in force – be it uniforms, security, vending, promotions, food and beverage or HR and banking services the very best of Australasia will be on-show and ready to do business with the nation’s leading decision makers from hotel venues.

Ross Ferrar, CEO of Gaming Technologies Australia, commented;

“The GTA members look forward to welcoming the hotel industry’s leaders to the AGE. The 2011 Gaming Expo will be an opportunity for hoteliers to experience both innovations in technology and operations as well as exceptional networking with their trade representatives and management peers. The 22nd AGE will once again be the benchmark in exhibitions for the Australian gaming and hospitality industry. We look forward to seeing you there.”

REGISTRATION: for AGE 2011 is now open and can be completed online at www.austgamingexpo.com or by calling the Gaming Expo Help Line on 1300 724 030.

For further information contact:

Ross Ferrar
Gaming Technologies Association
(02) 8216 0931 or info@gamingta.com

For Sydney Accommodation, Metro Hotels

Sydney Announced as Host City for Dreamtime 2011

Tourism Australia today announced Sydney has been selected as host city for Dreamtime 2011, Australia’s premier trade marketing activity for international business events buyers.

More than 100 business events decision makers and 20 media from key international markets will be invited to participate in the five day Dreamtime itinerary. The event begins on 13 November and includes a series of educational activities, gala and business networking events before concluding on 18 November 2011.

Up to seven other destinations in Australia will also form part of the itinerary for the international delegates. A request for proposals is being issued to Australian destinations wishing to host educational visits prior to the host city program.

Ms Penny Lion, Head of Business Events Australia, said Sydney’s proposal for Dreamtime 2011 highlighted the city’s creative thinking, contained an innovative communications strategy and support for the event from across the city.

“Dreamtime is Tourism Australia’s highest profile incentive event and we are thrilled to have the opportunity to showcase the very best Australia has to offer in one of our most beautiful cities, Sydney,” said Ms Lion.

Incentive events are used by organisations to improve the performance and motivation of their people and are a key strategy for improving productivity, increasing sales, or retaining and recognising high achievers.

“Bringing key incentive buyers to experience Australia is the best way to encourage them to bring their clients here,” said Ms Lion.

“We are absolutely focused on presenting an outstanding Dreamtime – which will showcase exceptional destinations and experiences around Australia and leave buyers with no doubt about the high value Australia delivers,” she said.

Mr Jon Hutchison, Chief Executive Officer, Business Events Sydney, said Sydney was delighted to be appointed host city for Dreamtime 2011.

“Sydney’s Dreamtime program has been designed to inspire buyers to choose Australia for their next international event. I’m proud of the professionalism and quality of Sydney’s business events industry and certain of their support in delivering an amazing Dreamtime experience,” said Mr Hutchison.

(Source: TravMedia.com 2nd April 2011)

700 International Travel Delegates Arrive for Australia's Premier Tourism Event

Around 700 international travel delegates from 40 countries fly in to Sydney this week to meet with 1,700 tourism operators from across the country at the Australian Tourism Exchange (ATE) ATE is Tourism Australia’s premier business-to-business event, providing a forum for Australian tourism businesses to showcase their products, meet overseas contacts and negotiate business deals with the travel trade who sell Australian holidays overseas. Around 100,000 business meetings will take place during the event, which is being held at the Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre (SCEC) from 2 to 8 April.

Tourism Australia Managing Director Andrew McEvoy said ATE was important for building future demand for Australia’s tourism experiences in the international market.

“ATE is the most important event on the Australian tourism industry calendar and we estimate it will immediately inject more than $10 million in to the locally economy, but many millions more longer term,” Mr McEvoy said.

“Many deals will be done and millions of dollars worth of future tourism business for Australia will potentially be generated at ATE, resulting from the thousands of business meetings held during the event.

“It presents an enormous opportunity for Australia’s tourism industry to remain competitive internationally and will put us on track to realise the targets outlined in the 2020 Tourism Industry Potential.

“The 2020 Tourism Industry Potential sets an ambitious goal to double the overnight expenditure generated by tourism from $70 billion to $140 billion by 2020 – which events such as ATE will help us to achieve,” Mr McEvoy said.

Held annually, ATE is staged in a different host city each year, with the support of the State and Territory tourism partners and Qantas Airways. This year around 1,700 Australian seller delegates from approximately 600 companies will be participating in the event.

Tourism NSW Executive Director and General Manager Lyndel Gray said Sydney was looking forward to hosting the international travel industry for ATE 2011.  Having recently hosted ‘Oprah’s Ultimate Australian Adventure’, Tourism NSW has developed an exciting, welcoming program for ATE delegates.

“ATE contributes significantly to continuing the growth of international tourism markets to Australia.  This year 85 NSW and Sydney businesses, alongside Tourism NSW, will be promoting an impressive range of excellent tourism experiences and destinations.  The NSW tourism industry is primed and eager to capitalise on the business opportunities that will be created by their participation in ATE. .”

As the host State, Tourism NSW has supported the delivery of ATE for 2011 through securing buyer accommodation and the Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre as well as hosting buyer and seller delegates at three ATE showcase events during the seven day program.

Tourism NSW has also organised around 30 familiarisation itineraries across Sydney and regional NSW for international buyers to experience local attractions, dining and accommodation.  ATE 2011 has two modules covering the Eastern and Western hemisphere tourism markets. The Eastern Hemisphere module (Japan, Asia and the Gulf countries) will run from 2 to 4 April while the Western Hemisphere module (Europe, the Americas, Africa, New Zealand and the South Pacific) will run from 5 April to 8 April 2011.

Mr McEvoy said ATE was also important for giving the people who sell Australian holidays first-hand experience of the country.

“The beauty of ATE is that the international travel trade not only have the opportunity to meet Australian tourism business at one place but they also get to experience the destination and its tourism experiences first hand,” Mr McEvoy said.

“International buyers will get to immerse themselves in the host city Sydney during ATE and then travel to other destinations to participate in familiarisations that will help them to better sell Australia to the world.”

Australia received a record 5.9 million international visitors in 2010, an increase of 5.4 per cent on 2009, generating $24 billion in economic value for Australia. New South Wales received more than 2.8 million international visitors during 2010. International visitors spent more than 65 million nights in the State and injected more than $5.9 billion into the NSW economy.

(Source: Travmedia.com 2^nd April 2011)

Delegates Welcomed to ATE - Sydney Trade Shows

International buyers attending ATE11 are arriving in Sydney this week with many already on familiarisation tours of Sydney and regional NSW. Delegates are being greeted by welcome banners at Circular Quay, Darling Harbour, hotels and at the airport.

As co-host of the event, Tourism NSW has planned a full schedule of functions and activities over the nine days to showcase Sydney and regional NSW. The city’s credentials for hosting large-scale business events will be on display along with the State’s quality food and wine and dynamic tourism businesses and experiences. More information will be provided in the Insights ATE Special Edition that commences on Saturday.

Two new fact sheets have been added to the ATE11 special series on international market segments. Tourism NSW has analysed the baby boomer market from Eastern and Western Hemispheres including looking at opportunities to grow visitation from those groups. To see the fact sheets click here.

Sydney’s new Sydney Airport Citybus Express is offering $10 airport transfers for ATE delegates. The luxury coach service runs to and from Sydney Airport to city hotels. Click here for more information. ATE delegates wanting to know more about the Sydney Airport Citybus Express service can visit booth 247 in the NSW area at ATE.

(Source: Insights 30^th March 2011)

Are you coming to these Expos and Tradeshows in Sydney during February 2011???

Are you coming to these events in Sydney during February 2011???

2^nd to 4^th February           Australian International Furniture fair – Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre

2^nd to 4^th February           Decoration & Design – Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre

11^th to 13^th February        Australian Shoe Fair – Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre

12^th to 13^th February        Travel Expo – Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre

12^th to 13^th February        Sydney Pool Spa & Outdoor Living Expo – Rosehill Gardens

17^th to 20^th February        Life Instyle – Royal Hall of Industries

19^th to 22^nd February       Home & Giving Fair – Sydney Showgrounds, Sydney Olympic Park

19^th to 23^rd February       Reed Gift Fair – Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre

Attending a tradeshow or Expo?, Need ideal Sydney accommodation?