Adelaide ICC - News
"Meetings May" begins at Adelaide Convention Centre:
Friday, 1 May 2009
Seven major conferences welcome boost to SA economy
While "Mad March" is known for its major events in South Australia, this May heralds the start of a bumper meetings and events season at the Adelaide Convention Centre with seven major conferences scheduled.
Providing a $14.26 million lift to the South Australian economy, the conferences - all of them national with some attracting guests from overseas - are expected to attract in excess of 4,100 delegates generating more than 25,600 bed nights.
"Amongst all the doom and gloom, this is fantastic news for local hotels, restaurants, cafes, taxi companies, tour operators and other local businesses, providing an enormous injection into the local economy," Adelaide Convention Centre Chief Executive Alec Gilbert says.
"While we have hosted a number of conferences at the start of the year - including the prestigious Meetings Events Australia conference in April - May is traditionally when our conference season gains momentum and this year we're off to a flying start.
"In addition to banquets, dinners, seminars and other events, June is also looking strong with three conferences planned while five are booked for both July and August and an impressive nine conferences confirmed for September and six for October.
"Even in these tough economic times Adelaide is viewed as a desirable conference destination once again confirming our reputation as Australia's convention city."
Conferences to be held at the Centre include:
- National Histology Conference, 7 to 10 May
- Speech Pathology Australia National Conference, 17 to 21 May
- 16th National Conference of the Australian Sonographers Assoc., 21 to 24 May
- Royal Australian & NZ College of Psychiatrists, 24 to 28 May
- Harcourts Real Estate Conference, 25 to 27 May
Mr Gilbert said Adelaide's size made it the perfect destination for conferences, with guests able to stroll between the Adelaide Convention Centre, luxury hotels, restaurants, cafes, shopping strips and art galleries.
"We're large enough to be cosmopolitan yet compact enough to avoid big-city congestion, inconvenience and cost," he said. "When you combine this with the fact that we have stunning beaches and hills just 20 minutes away while world famous wine regions such as the Barossa, the Outback and other tourism icons such as Kangaroo Island are on our doorstep, it's easy to why Adelaide is a conference destination of choice."
In May last year, Adelaide Convention Centre also hosted seven conferences although delegate numbers were lower at 3320 people (15.610 bed nights) while the economic benefit was $4 million less, at $10.1 million.
Media inquiries: Jodie van Deventer, Deventer PR & Communications, on 0427 408 588 or jodie@deventer.com.au
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