The Sydney Convention and Visitors Bureau is planning to build on Sydney’s successful hosting of the high-profile Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum last month to attract more business events from the Asia Pacific region.

SCVB Managing Director Jon Hutchison said APEC had provided an unprecedented opportunity to position Sydney as a leading force in the region’s economy and demonstrate its professionalism in staging meetings.

“APEC was a fantastic event which raised awareness of Sydney as part of the Asia Pacific region, the fastest growing region in the world, and really focused attention on our role as an international city and business hub,” Mr Hutchison said.

“It also served to broaden our image by showing that we’re not only a great leisure destination, we’re a leading business destination that knows how to deliver successful, vibrant meetings and business outcomes,” he said.

Mr Hutchison said the SCVB would be building this message into its sales and marketing activity in the Asia Pacific region.

Asia has proved an increasingly strong source of event business for Sydney over recent years. In 2006-07, the region accounted 12 of the 30 events won by the SCVB.

APEC is the most important economic meeting ever held in Australia. A key forum for promoting economic growth, cooperation, trade and investment among its 21 member nations, APEC 2007 involved more than 100 days of meetings around Australia.

The event culminated in the Leaders Meeting held in Sydney on September 8-9, which brought together world leaders from around the globe, including US President George Bush, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Hu Jintao, with a combined entourage of thousands of Ministers, officials and media.

Mr Hutchison said APEC had given Sydney a chance to showcase itself not just to governments around the world, but also the international corporate sector, with hundreds of business leaders attending the APEC Australia 2007 Business Summit.

“These business leaders, along with delegates to the APEC Business Advisory Council, international officials and Australian business and government leaders, were hosted at a welcome reception staged by the NSW Government during APEC. They were also targeted with information about NSW business opportunities throughout the meeting. It was a superb opportunity to give leading companies a first hand experience of how well Sydney stages business events, and we think it will provide the stimulus for a great deal of future business for us,” Mr Hutchison concluded.