Destination Interview |
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importance before , and I think it ’ s ever more so now for us as a tourism board . We look at sustainability in terms of being a key objective for us as an organisation . Our role in this is to educate and advocate . There ’ s some really amazing Australian stories in sustainability and we want to showcase these industry brands .
It ’ s also important to look and do the right thing with our internal values . Everything we do in events is making sure that we ’ re following a sustainability code . One of the things we ’ ve just launched , with the Events and Exhibition Association of Australia , is a carbon calculator that can be used for any event . We actually use this on our own events . We did a leisure event at the Australia Tourism Exchange a few weeks ago and applied the carbon calculator and offset around that calculation .
What lessons do you think that your industry in Australia has learned from the pandemic ; do you
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think you ’ re going to be more resilient should obstacles come further down the line ? What we ’ ve seen is just amazing resilience across the industry . People innovating their businesses and doing what they needed to do to get through . I think we ’ re definitely coming from a great position , particularly if you think around our vaccination rate as a destination . We ’ re at 95 % of the population double vaccinated .
Whats the team ’ s message at IMEX Frankfurt ? We ’ re coming back , we ’ re open , and there is an ease of getting into Australia . We ’ re saying that if you haven ’ t been able to visit for a couple of years , there has been unprecedented infrastructure development in that time . That ’ s across all areas of the business event sector .
We ’ ve had new developments in convention centres , venues , accommodation , and food and wine
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“ You might know Australia before , but there ’ s also certainly a new side to discover when you come back .” |
offering . During the past two years , we ’ ve had over 100 new or renovated hotels come into the market , which adds 12,000 beds .
You might know Australia before , but there ’ s also certainly a new side to discover when you come back .
Have you got any new venues under construction or anything planned to enhance your infrastructure any further ? We have the Cairns Convention Centre in the far north of Queensland . It is undergoing a redevelopment , so it ’ s getting an additional 10,200sqm of event space . It ’ s also getting a new 500sqm rooftop terrace and this opens in 2023 .
Beyond that we have a new venue space in Melbourne called CENTREPIECE , which can cater 2,000 people . It is just near the Rod Laver Arena , very close to the CBD .
From a convention centre perspective , I also want to highlight the Melbourne Convention Exhibition Centre . They ’ ve had a real focus on sustainability for some time now and it ’ s a really great example of Australian MICE sustainability . In the APAC region , Melbourne has been awarded the number one position for sustainability and number 11 globally .
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There is a new government that has come into place . Has that changed anything in your operations ? For us , as a government agency , we work closely with the government , but it ’ s all about continuing the momentum we ’ ve got going already from our activities . We ’ ve got a lot of activity in the pipeline . This new campaign launch , mentioned earlier , is going to run across all our markets . That ’ s the future proofing . It ’ s about short-term conversion , but also future pipeline . The bid fund programme will continue and our focus continues . |