Conferences to deliver A$96m boost to Brisbane

Brisbane’s economy will be boosted by more than AUD$96m (US$70,877,235) following a record year of activity by the city’s dedicated convention bureau. Lord Mayor Graham Quirk said the past year had been the Brisbane Convention Bureau’s most successful to date, with 46,000 delegates set to visit Brisbane over 164,000 event days. “Last financial year the Brisbane Convention Bureau worked to secure 78 conferences, including 34 international events,” Cr Quirk said. “These events create valuable professional development, networking and investment opportunities within local growth sectors and deliver flow-on economic benefits for tourism and hospitality businesses, including hotels, restaurants and retailers,” Cr Quirk added. Brisbane Convention Bureau GM Juliet Alabaster said the majority of the conference bid wins had been achieved in partnership with the Brisbane Convention & Exhibition Centre (BCEC) – which was named the World’s Best Convention Centre for 2016-2018 by the Annual General Assembly of the International Association of Congress Centres. Ms Alabaster said: “Our conference wins have added to the wider Brisbane business events industry’s success in attracting events, which has been supported by a growth in world-class infrastructure, four and five-star hotels, and diverse leisure attractions.” BCEC GM Bob O’Keeffe said the result was very pleasing and opened up many opportunities for investment and development in Queensland’s key sector industries and world-leading research. This latest result comes on the back of BCEC experiencing its best year ever apart from the extraordinary G20 year of 2014, having generated $79.4m in convention bid wins through its own activities, O’Keeffe said. The Brisbane Convention Bureau operates in partnership with Tourism and Events Queensland, BCEC and other partners. Conferences secured by the Bureau and partners include the Global Forum for Innovations in Agriculture (GFI) in Focus 2018, the World Conference of Science and Factual Producers 2018, the Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) Asia Pacific Forum & Exhibition 2020, and the Australasian Sonographers Association Annual International Conference for 2019, 2021 and 2023.