Business events currently contribute AUS$13bn (US$11.6bn) annually to Australia’s visitor economy and will play a major role in meeting the government’s broader target of growing overnight visitor expenditure to $115bn annually by 2020.
Business Events Australia’s Dreamtime programme is Australia’s signature buyers’ event for showcasing the country’s incentive experiences.
The latest edition of the biennual event attracted 85 international buyers and media, who arrived in Australia 8 December 2013 for a week of exceptional experiences.
There were 12 country groups in all and five host locations: HQ Melbourne, Adelaide, Cairns, Gold Coast, Sydney and Uluru. Hosted buyers from India visited Adelaide and saw part of the second Ashes Test; the North American delegation experienced the reef and rainforests; while the Japanese and Korean group discovered incentives on the Gold Coast and in Sydney.
I travelled with the nine-strong UK group which joined buyers from New Zealand in the outback red desert around Uluru/Ayers Rock.
A Pearl Business Class flight on Etihad via Abu Dhabi to Melbourne, the buyers agreed, was a pleasant way to break down the long-haul flightplan (that and a few guarana tablets).
Once on the ground Down Under, and before heading into the interior, we checked into Melbourne’s Crown Metropol, a short walk from the host venue for the initial Dreamtime Business Sessions networking event.
Dreamtime has been running for 20 years and reinvented itself to bring taste to the fore, with Australia’s food and wine showcased as never before. A recent survey by Tourism Australia revealed that safety and security, business event facilities and quality accommodation are the top three reasons given by international delegates for visiting the country, with the country’s food and wine quality ranked at number four.
While Australia’s wines may be popular, perhaps the fresh food the country produces and the modern twist of its top chefs is not fully in the global consciousness.
Melbourne chefs served up many treats combining indigenous, native and sustainable ingredients with Australian and Chinese fusion cooking also. Luke Mangan was Consulting Chef for the Dreamtime Dinner and his team served up a menu featuring the best salmon from Tasmania and beef from Victoria.
The international buyers were welcomed to Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre into a Dreamtime networking space designed to resemble a bustling Melbourne streetscape. A speed-dating format took us on a breakneck tour of this vast land and of the jewels in its incentives crown.
The format ensured circulation and got everyone in front of each other, at least for 10 minutes, and was in line with the Dreamtime strategy of ‘engagement’.
That engagement was carried into the evening when, with the help of professional entertainers, buyers from South Korean performed Gangnam Style and Brits strapped on kilts (despite all being English) to join 24 pipers to play AC/DC’s Long Way to the Top.
After the power play of business, buyers were whisked off for a hot rod car rally around the Melbourne Formula 1 Grand Prix street circuit. Some took the laneway tour and a helicopter ride along the Great Ocean Road.
We were beginning to see why Melbourne was voted the best city for quality of life in the Economic Intelligence Unit’s 2013 liveabilty ranking.
Before leaving Melbourne some of us visited the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) and as we warmed up for a try out in the nets in the famous sporting mecca, a world-famous moustache came into view, closely followed by former Aussie fast bowler Merv Hughes.
And even if your delegates aren’t the type to want to work up a sweat in the nets, the MCG provides plenty of shady rooms for a more sedate meet among the sporting heritage.
Some Dreamtimers were photographed with cricketing memorabilia and others got to hold the Melbourne Cup, while less sporting buyers opted for some wine tasting and a hat-making class.
At a dinner for all groups, Tourism Australia Managing Director Andrew McEvoy said the week-long Dreamtime event was “an opportunity to ensure Australia remains top-of-mind internationally as an exceptional place to meet and do business”.
Melbourne Convention Bureau CEO Karen Bolinger said hosting Dreamtime 2013 had been a “tremendous business opportunity to showcase Melbourne as an incentive travel destination”.
“Our guests saw why Melbourne is the spiritual home of Australia’s culinary renaissance, and experienced the world’s most liveable city which is brimming with out-of-box activities perfect for incentive programmes,” she said.
Melbourne is experiencing a record year for events and, by the end of 2014, will have hosted 70 international conferences (a 37% rise in events) secured by MCB and welcomed 85,000 delegates to the city, who will have contributed $420m to the state’s economy.
At the Red Centre
“The idea behind Dreamtime is very simple: giving buyers an exceptional experience to show why ‘There’s Nothing Like Australia’ for business events,” Head of Business Events Australia, Penny Lion told CMW.
Virgin Australia was one of the 69 Australian suppliers participating in the programme and the airline flew our group into the red interior of Uluru where we experienced dining under the stars and exploring round the sacred rock with an indigenous guide.
Our base was The Sails in the Desert hotel, in the Ayers Rock Resort. This oasis in the harsh but beautiful outback has its own conference centre and event space for those wanting to mix a meeting or two with their high end incentive.
The resort’s exclusivity is part of the pull of course, although there is accommodation also at the neighbouring Voyages Desert Gardens Hotel and also a campsite, but demand is heavy and prices are not low.
What organisers would get for their money would be unforgettable experiences, however.
One experience that will live with me was an inspirational meeting with students from the National Indigenous Training Academy, sponsored by the hotels. Here was a project providing employment and training to indigenous people from all around the country.
Viewing the Southern Cross over an outdoor ‘Sounds of Silence’ dinner with an astronomer to guide the eye round the universe was also an experience to file under ‘truly unique’.
Other activities the group tried out in the Uluru National Park area included a local art and craft class, camel riding at dawn and a scenic helicopter flight. We passed on the bush tucker and camping.
Photography of sacred Uluru, now property of the indigenous people, is by permission only, which seemed to make the pictures in themind’s eye all the more exclusive.
This was first published in issue 75 of CMW. Any comments? Email cmw@mashmedia.net
