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The board, including Johanna Griggs, Swans chairman Richard Colless, Olympics head John Coates and chaired by Australian rugby chief, John O’Neill, has an $85 million three-year working budget and will be overseen by NSW Premier, Morris Iemma.
The new body, known as Events New South Wales Pty Ltd, will be charged with attracting business events and trade fairs, returning Sydney to preferred destination status for conferences, and regaining a foothold in Asia.
According to reports, one of the big events the board will be trying to secure is the 2018 Football (soccer) World Club.
The Sydney Convention and Visitors Bureau (SCVB) has welcomed the appointment of the high-profile board to oversee the new entity.
SCVB managing director, Jon Hutchison, said the creation of Events New South Wales was a key strategic development that would further boost Sydney’s standing as an international destination for meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions.
“Events New South Wales has been created to develop Sydney and New South Wales as a vibrant and prosperous centre for all manner of events, and business events will continue to be an important part of that spectrum,” Mr Hutchison said.
“The SCVB will work closely with Events New South Wales to develop our state’s business events sector and to create an aggressive growth strategy aimed at placing Sydney among the world’s top 10 congress destinations.”
The creation of Events New South Wales followed a broad review of the tourism and events sectors mounted by John O’Neill, managing director and CEO of Australian Rugby Union, at the request of the New South Wales Premier.
“The SCVB made important contributions to the O’Neill review, which recognised the achievements of the bureau and the value its member-base brings to our state and the business events sector.” Also appointed to the board are Sydney University vice-chancellor Gavin Brown, businessman, Peter Ivany, David Richmond, Charlotte Vidor and fashion guru, Belinda Seper.
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