Australia Overview
WE SHARE AN UPDATE, COURTESY OF BUSINESS EVENTS AUSTRALIA, ON THE COUNTRY’ S
STRENGTHS AS A LEADING GLOBAL EVENT HOST
The Waldorf Astoria, Sydney
NEW CAPACITIES AND EXCITING NEW OPTIONS FOR EVENT EXPERIENCES DOWN UNDER
Accessibility, connectivity and venue capacity Aviation capacity is critical to Australia’ s visitor economy and in 2026 there is greater inbound seat capacity than ever before, but it is a different mix of flights than it was prior to the Covid pandemic as new services and routes have emerged in recent years to give travellers more options.
For European travellers, flag carrier Qantas now operates direct services to Perth from London, Paris and Rome, and Turkish Airlines operates flights to Sydney and Melbourne( via Kuala Lumpur). And Finnair has announced plans to start flying to Australia.
Australia continues to offer exciting venues, including new hotels across the country opening in 2026 and beyond and 6,000 new rooms are projected to open in the next two years, with 60 % classified as‘ luxury’. Notably, the anticipated Waldorf Astoria Sydney is set to open on Sydney Harbour in 2027, Andaz
Gold Coast is coming and new brands like Mondrian Gold Coast, 1 Hotel Melbourne and 25 Hours Hotel Sydney made their debut in Australia in 2025. See pages 6 and 7 for more on key infrastructure developments for 2026 and beyond.
Bid funding, incentives and marketing partnerships Australia’ s Bid Fund Programme( BFP) is a key strategic tool to secure high-value international business events and, to date, has helped win 199 events generating a direct economic benefit of over AUD $ 1.36bn. On average, every dollar invested generates $ 53 for the Australian economy.
Applicants are invited to share their sustainability and legacy goals for their event, as these criteria will be central to competitive bids in the future.
Sustainability is one of Tourism Australia’ s key strategic pillars and the tourism board practises what it preaches, applying the Climate Active Carbon Neutral Standard for Events, a government-backed carbon neutral certification for businesses, to its own signature events such as its incentive showcase, Australia Next, and the annual Australian Tourism Exchange B2B event.
Australia is home to some of the world’ s most sustainably certified convention centres, many of which hold accreditations such as EarthCheck Master Status and 6-Star Green Star ratings. For example, the Adelaide Convention Centre was the world’ s first convention centre to achieve EarthCheck’ s Master status, and, in Melbourne, the MCEC is the first convention centre in the world to be awarded a 6 Green Star environmental rating.
Delegate experience and unique value Corporate wellbeing is becoming an integral part of Australia’ s Business Events offering and many new openings cater to this trend,
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