Adelaide has made the most of its opportunity to showcase its finest to international incentive planners as the host city for Dreamtime, Tourism Australia’s premier incentives event.
About 80 international buyers experienced some of the boutique city’s show-stopping events, including breakfast on the Adelaide Oval with a tunnel walk through to the field, fireworks and a choir singing from the roof.
This comes as it works to rebuild relationships with planners in an ultra-competitive incentives industry post-lockdown.
“The incentives market is starting to build up and we’re seeing more interest in Adelaide, so hopefully we’re showing rather than just telling people what we can do here at Dreamtime,” Adelaide Convention Bureau’s general manager for strategy and public affairs, Tony Saulters, told TTGmice.
Of the international hosted buyers, 23 hailed from China, 10 from India, 11 from New Zealand, while the remainder came from other parts of Asia, as well as North America and UK.
Hosted buyers had a day to experience some of the city’s incentive offerings, including wine tastings in the Barossa Valley, and a tour of the iconic d’Arenberg Cube in McLaren Vale.
Media members also experienced what was gastronomically possible in Adelaide with an innovative degustation of local ingredients and flavours at Restaurant Botanic in Adelaide Botanic Garden, awarded Australia’s Restaurant of the Year 2022.
Tourism Australia’s executive general manager of commercial & Business Events Australia, Robin Mack, said it was timely for Adelaide to shine.
“The last time Dreamtime was hosted in Adelaide was in 2015,” said Mack. “So much has happened since that time around the country, but none more so than in Adelaide.”
Fresh infrastructure additions include the Sofitel Adelaide, Adelaide Oval Hotel and Eos by SkyCity, and soon-to-launch Adelaide’s first Marriott Hotel.
Visiting Australia for the first time from China, Bravolinks Integrated Marketing’s executive general manager, marketing and strategic cooperation department, Jessica Zhang, said Dreamtime in Adelaide exceeded her expectations.
“I know that events organised by Australia are of a very high standard but Dreamtime was really good. The highlight for me was the choir singing from the Adelaide Oval roof, which I thought was very imaginative and would be an emotional experience for my incentive clients,” she said.
International hosted buyers also spent three days on extended familiarisations to other destinations around Australia to get a fuller taste of the country’s incentive destination offerings.
