Hospitality leaders from throughout Asia-Pacific met in Melbourne this week for a convention designed to showcase the region’s best event spaces and destinations.
The Asia Pacific Incentives and Meetings Event (AIME) attracted some 600 buyers, exhibitors and media representatives to the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre.
A highlight was Melbourne and Olympic Parks’ unveiling of its $972 million redevelopment of the city’s sporting and events hub.
Opening in 2022, the revitalised centre is designed to “pay homage to the Australian landscape”, and promises to “elevate the parks’ capabilities yet again to sit alongside some of the world’s most famous venues”.
[pro_ad_display_adzone id=”15046″ align=”left”]It will include a 2000sqm ballroom and 800sqm pre-function area with eight-metre-high ceilings and floor-to-ceiling windows.
“Feedback so far has just been ‘wow’”, said the group’s Lara Burnes, general manager for premier events & experiences.
“We’re incredibly excited to unveil our state-of-the-art function centre at AIME – offering delegates the opportunity to be the first in the world to book their business events for 2022.”
The NSW government represented some of the state’s most attractive destinations, venues and ‘hidden gems’ at the two-day exhibition, state tourism minister Adam Marshall saying AIME provided a perfect platform for promotion.
“The conferencing industry is currently worth $173 million in overnight visitor expenditure to rural and regional NSW, and we look forward to growing this number even further as a result of our presence at AIME 2019,” he said.
Event director Jay Martens said while previous AIME events might have fallen short of expectations, attracting junior attendees with limited decision-making power, AIME 2019 was a very different offering.
This year, exhibitors were carefully vetted its hosted buyer to ensure only those within senior roles and decision-making power were invited to exhibit. “We want people to be able to make decisions onsite,” said Martens.
“The interest is massively there,” he said of the 2019 event. “There’s a tremendous goodwill for AIME - it has always been a pillar for the industry.”
While the main conference ran over two days on Tuesday and Wednesday, Monday included a welcome event featuring food and arts from throughout the Asia-Pacific region and a day of ‘knowledge and networking’ involving sessions on the power of technology and the importance of face-to-face meetings.
AccomNews is not affiliated with any government agency, body or political party. We are an independently owned, family-operated magazine.
