 ALL ABOARD
The world largest passenger ship the Queen Mary 2 and the Queen Elizabeth 2 made a spectacular entrance into Sydney Harbour recently which attracted thousands of spectator craft and over 500,000 Sydneysiders to the harbour to witness a dazzling Howard & Sons Pyrotechnics display fired from two barges to celebrate this once in a lifetime event. Guests onboard from around the world were mesmerised by rays of pyrotechnic stars shooting high up into Sydney’s southern sky. Howard & Sons Pyrotechnics produced a very powerful and creative 10 minute pyrotechnic display to welcome the guests of the two massive Cunard vessels to Sydney. In an amazing set of circumstances and acronyms for this high profile event; The Event was produced by DGSE, H&S, QMII, QEII in SYD. That’s DGSE-David Grant Special Events, Fireworks by H&S-Howard & Sons Pyrotechnics for the QMII-Queen Mary 2, QEII-Queen Elizabeth 2 in SYD-Sydney.
The national conference of FoodWorks independently owned supermarket proprietors is returning to Tropical North Queensland in 2007 after their previous event there three years ago set a conference size record for Palm Cove. This year FoodWorks will focus on Cairns with their national conference for 450 delegates to be held over five days at the Cairns International Hotel and the Sofitel Reef Casino. TTNQ Chief Executive Officer, Rob Giason, welcomed the group’s return. “FoodWorks brought the largest conference/incentive group ever to Palm Cove in August 2004, with strong support from our business tourism arm, Cairns and Region Convention Bureau,” Mr Giason said.
The Australian Tourism Export Council (ATEC) is holding its annual symposium and workshops in the Tweed region of northern New South Wales this month (April 17-20) – the first time the event has been held in the region. The event is expected to pump more than $1.5 million into the local economy.
Single Market Events, the exhibition company behind the RSVP special event exhibitions, has announced the launch of esp 2007, a new event dedicated to executive secretaries and PAs. esp will be held at the Sydney Convention & Exhibition Centre on July 17 and 18. The range of exhibitors at the tradeshow will include: business technology and equipment, business travel, corporate and promotional gifts, corporate hospitality advisers and activities, courier and delivery providers, hotels, conference and corporate hospitality venues, and more. Visit www.singlemarketevents.com.au for further details.
Sue Pearce, director of marketing and sales at Adelaide Expo Hire, is hopefully no longer smarting from the lumps and bumps she may have endured as an entrant in the 2006 SA Variety Bash. Angelique Boileau of Boileau Business Solutions and Roz Chow from The House of Chow joined Sue in car 222, with campaign manager Ann Ewer working tirelessly behind the scenes to keep the crew on track. The team raised just over $100,000 – the highest amount ever raised by first-time bashers. The team plan to compete in the 2007 event, and to kick-start their fundraising this year they are holding a golf day on Friday, April 20 at Blackwood Golf Club in South Australia. Visit www.car222.com.au to see how you can get involved.
Following a spectacular second year in Sydney, which saw Pyrmont Bridge turned into Sydney’s largest and most colourful outdoor canvas, Chalk The Walk is proud to announce that Kids Take Part in Art was invited to form part of Moomba’s program in March 2007. Over 120,000 people experienced Chalk The Walk on Pyrmont Bridge in Sydney during September 2006. The school’s program was an overwhelming success with 305 primary school children participating in school excursions, meeting artists and revealing their own creativity by working together to produce their very own chalk masterpieces. Kids Take Part in Melbourne was a combination of visual learning activities, competitions, school excursions and fun classes at ArtPlay as part of Moomba. Professional ‘screevers’ (pavement artists) Ulla Taylor and Jenny McCracken taught children how to work with chalk and encouraged them to express themselves through art.
An initiative that aims to increase Fremantle’s convention business has already resulted in the port city securing a prestigious national conference for 2009. Officially launching the Fremantle Business Tourism Expansion Project on Monday, February 12, Mayor Peter Tagliaferri announced that the city had successfully bid to host the 7th National Mainstreet Conference. “This is a major coup for Fremantle,” the Mayor said. “It will provide a significant economic boost to our economy and further enhance our reputation as both an important commercial and tourist centre.” The Mainstreet conference, which deals with economic development and town centre revitalisation, is expected to attract more than 400 delegates from all over Australia and New Zealand and inject nearly $600,000 into the local economy. Mayor Tagliaferri said: “Our success in winning this premier event is the result of wider industry cohesion, matched with advocating the best of Fremantle to the rest of Australia.”
ARTIST ON SONG
Tania de Jong, artistic director of MTA, was named the Australian Social Entrepreneur of the Year for her work as founder of The Song Room, an organisation designed to provide high quality music and arts experiences to young people, particularly those disadvantaged through isolation, disability, recent immigrant status and financial circumstances. Tania was presented with her award by Dame Elisabeth Murdoch, with Ernst & Young’s CEO, James Millar (at rear). To find out more about The Song Room visit www.songroom.org.au.
Sydney’s standing as a world centre for medical conferences has helped it secure the 16th International Symposium on Atherosclerosis in 2012, an event worth $18 million to the local economy. The five-day event is expected to attract up to 4000 world experts on atherosclerosis, the life-threatening build-up of plaque in the arteries. Sydney was chosen to host the event after a bid by the Australian Atherosclerosis Society (AAS) and the Sydney Convention and Visitors Bureau (SCVB), defeating a rival bid from the city of Amsterdam. The SCVB coordinated a bid team to make a presentation to the International Atherosclerosis Society at its 2006 Symposium in Rome last June, the culmination of a lobbying process launched in the early 1990s.
In other Sydney news, Sydney has started the new year with a $9.5 million run on business event bookings from Asia, including two landmark events from the emerging market of India. A 600-delegate incentive visit by the Indian motorcycle manufacturer Bajaj Auto and a 150-delegate incentive visit by Toyota India are among seven new Asian business events secured by the Sydney Convention and Visitors Bureau in recent weeks. Together the events represent a $9.5 million injection for the NSW economy, bringing almost 2080 new delegates to Sydney during the next 18 months. They provide a boost to an already busy year in which Sydney will host more than $104 million worth of business events and host 30,655 international conference delegates.
The Sydney Opera House came alive in early February for the second major Corroboree Indigenous Tourism Expo. Celebrating Australia’s Indigenous cultures on the traditional land of the Eora people, Corroboree showcases the dynamic, unique and enriching diversity of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander tourism operators from across the country. An initiative of Aboriginal Tourism Australia (ATA), this one-day cultural extravaganza is an opportunity for travel industry professionals and consumers to explore the range of awe-inspiring, accessible and authentic cultural holiday and travel experiences that are available.
The Brisbane Marketing Convention Bureau has celebrated a successful start to 2007 with news of two new conference bid wins. On the international front, Brisbane has triumphed over Japan and won the right to host the 2010 International Council of Nurses, International Nurse Practitioner/Advanced Practice Nurse Network Conference. The Conference is expected to attract more than 500 delegates over three days and two nights. On the domestic front, the Australian Technical Analysts Association has selected Brisbane as the destination for their national conference to be held at the Queensland University of Technology Gardens Theatre. The conference, scheduled for October 2007, is expected to attract more than 300 delegates over three days and two nights.
Group general manager international airline, Ed Sims, says Canada has always been an extremely popular destination for New Zealanders.
“In turn, Canadians love New Zealand and come here in significant numbers every year. Starting this service will significantly grow tourism numbers between the two countries. Already each year around 46,000 Canadians visit New Zealand and 16,000 Kiwis visit Canada, even before a direct flight!” Mr Sims says.
The services will initially operate three times a week between November and March to coincide with the peak travel season between the two destinations, as Canadians escape a white winter and Kiwi ski fanatics take advantage of some of the best slopes, scenery, culture and nightlife in the world.
Mr Sims says the new service is a significant undertaking for Air New Zealand.
“We are committing aircraft, sales teams and considerable marketing spend to making this a profitable addition to our network.”
At any one time, the airline has more than 20 routes under consideration as part of its long-term strategy to grow the airline.
For Australian customers, the new service provides a convenient one-stop offering from all eastern seaboard ports that Air New Zealand serves.
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