The Melbourne Convention Bureau (MCB) has achieved a 25 per cent increase in economic contribution from secured business events in 2017/2018 financial year from the previous year.
Economic contribution reached A$396 million (US$290 million) from 176 events secured, which will bring the highest number of visitors to the state in the past seven years, with over 79,000 new visitors anticipated.
The record-breaking year can be attributed to years of work resulting in several significant conference wins, from now till 2024, across a diverse range of sectors.
These include the Global Public Transport Summit 2021; World Ophthalmology Congress 2022; VidCon Australia 2018 and 2019; and General Assembly and Congress of the International Union of Crystallography 2023. Collectively, these events will contribute over A$155 million to the Victorian economy.
Conferences in the health and medical sectors are the most lucrative, making up 37 per cent of conferences secured in the past financial year.
Victoria’s corporate meetings and incentive business was also significantly bolstered with MCB securing 134 events which will deliver over A$82 million and over 25,500 delegates to the city and regional Victoria.
The most significant incentive win was the Cathay Life Incentive tour which delivered over 2,300 visitors to Victoria’s regions and injected A$10 million into the economy, with a significant proportion absorbed into regional communities.
