The Sydney Convention and Visitors Bureau has opened the new financial year with spectacular results, achieving A$47.1 million in new conference business in the first quarter. At the SCVB’s 2007 Annual General Meeting, Managing Director Jon Hutchison said the bureau was already on track for a prosperous 2007-08, having secured 13 major conferences and incentive events between July 1 and September 30.

Together the events will bring an additional 10,880 delegates to Sydney between now and 2011, representing an economic injection of A$47.1 million. The result is the bureau’s best opening quarter in five years and one of its best on record.

Mr Hutchison said the first quarter had been excellent not only in terms of the number of the events secured but also because of their size and value.

“So far this year Sydney has achieved a success rate of 65 per cent in bidding for business events – that’s quite an endorsement for the professionalism of Sydney’s events industry and the appeal of our city as an international destination,” Mr Hutchison said. “The research we’ve mounted internationally suggests the rest of the year holds many new bid opportunities for Sydney, so there’s a very strong possibility this success will continue.”

Among events secured so far this financial year are an unnamed incentive group from China visiting in November (2200 delegates, estimated value A$13.2 million), the Annual World Congress of the Human Proteome Organisation in 2010 (2000 delegates, A$10.1 million) and an unnamed medical congress in 2011 (1500 delegates, A$4.6 million).

Incentive groups from Asia were prominent among the bid wins, continuing a trend from last financial year when Asian business represented more than a third of events secured by the SCVB.

During 2006-07 the SCVB won bids for 30 new events, representing 24,960 delegates and a combined economic value of more than A$100 million.

“The number of bidding opportunities during 2006-07 was down on past years, though we still achieved a strong result and our success rate in bidding for events was very high at 68 per cent,” Mr Hutchison stressed. “Given the cyclical nature of the international congress market, we expect to see considerably more bidding opportunities in 2008 and beyond, which bodes well for Sydney’s position among the Asia-Pacific region’s top business events destinations.”

The biggest event secured during 2006-07 was the 2012 International Symposium on Atherosclerosis, worth more than A$17.5 million and expected to attract 4000 delegates. Other significant wins included the 6th World Congress of Pediatric Critical Care to be held in 2011 (A$8.8 million, 2000 delegates), an unnamed national medical conference in 2009 (A$8.6 million, 2000 delegates, the World Congress of the International Union of Angiology in 2014 (A$6.9 million, 1500 delegates), and the Toastmasters International Convention in 2010 (A$5.9 million, 2000 delegates).