SCVB and Events NSW Forge New Partnership

New South Wales is forecasting a significant hike in its share of the international business events market, following a new partnership between the State's two major event bodies, Events New South Wales and the Sydney Convention and Visitors Bureau (SCVB).

SCVB Managing Director Jon Hutchison said the new arrangement would see NSW Government support for the Bureau more than double from its 2006-07 level, enabling it to substantially increase the number of business events it targeted.

"Thanks to our new partnership with Events NSW, we are able to boost our activities, both here and overseas, so we will have the ability to bid for many more meetings," Mr Hutchison said. "More bids will mean more events, which ultimately translates to a greater economic impact not just for the business events industry but also for the wider community of NSW."

Both organisations have jointly finalised their 2008-09 partnership agreement, creating an alliance that will bring unprecedented strength to the State's campaign to win more major events and business events.

As the State's leading business events body, the SCVB will bring its industry-based expertise to the new government-backed major events corporation Events NSW.

Events NSW CEO Geoff Parmenter said his organisation would be working closely with the SCVB in a pioneering model for industry-government cooperation, enabling the two bodies to share resources and information and oversee a united approach to winning events.

"This new relationship gives us the means to unlock the true potential of the NSW business events industry as identified by the O'Neill report into the events sector, and drive more business to NSW," Mr Parmenter said.

SCVB has also recently increased its staff in the UK and Hong Kong and will be lifting its sales, research and marketing efforts in Australia over coming months.

The formalisation of the SCVB and Events NSW relationship follows a string of major bid wins for Sydney in recent weeks including the 8000-delegate Asia Pacific Life Insurance Council (APLIC) Congress in 2011, the 8000-delegate World Conference on Lung Cancer in 2013 and the XXXII International Congress of Audiology for 1600 delegates in 2014. Together these events are worth an estimated $43.6 million to the local economy.

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