Victoria has scored six new international business events, providing confidence of a strong recovery for the sector.
The events are projected to attract more than 4,500 delegates and fill almost 17,000 hotel room nights, enabling an economic impact of $30.6 million between 2021 and 2024.
All events have been secured by the Melbourne Convention Bureau (MCB), with the F1 in Schools World Finals taking place in March next year the first cab off the rank. F1 in Schools is the premier global STEM education challenge and operates in 23,000 schools in 52 countries with international competitors participating virtually.
Melbourne will also host AusRock 2022 – the 6th Australasian Ground Control Conference, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Visualization Conference 2022, the International Mass Spectrometry Conference 2023, the International Symposium on Lepton and Photon Interactions 2023 and the Congress of International Society for Biomedical Research on Alcoholism 2024.
“These new international business events will bring thousands of delegates to our state, directly boosting accommodation and hospitality businesses and supporting jobs across the economy,” Victoria’s Minister for Tourism, Sport and Major Events, Martin Pakula, said.
“It’s a vote of confidence in Melbourne and Victoria and underlines our standing in the highly competitive global business events market.”
The event wins come as the Melbourne Convention Exhibition Centre (MCEC) announced it will welcome people back for live events and experiences in line with the Victorian government’s Public Events Framework.
However, under current guidelines, the MCEC is limited to 25 per cent of the venue’s seating capacity, up to a maximum of 250 people seated, a density limit of one person per four square metres for non-fixed seated areas, and no free-standing events.
Despite the disruptive effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, MCB outlined a solid performance in the 2019-20 financial year in its annual report.
Victoria’s agency for acquiring and delivering business events secured 145 gatherings this year, reinforcing the State’s reputation as Australia’s event capital.
Featured image source: iStock/kokkai
