Melbourne’s business events sector continues to thrive, following the highly successful Amway China incentive – Australia’s largest ever – which brought 16,000 delegates to the city over six weeks in April 2025.
“We have a really strong pipeline of business events. We have both national and international business events coming from now to 2028 worth more than A$539 million (US$352.8 million), a total of 102,000 delegates filling 253,000 room nights; it’s equivalent of filling the city nine times over,” Julia Swanson, CEO of Melbourne Convention Bureau, told TTGmice.
Other major events slated to arrive in Melbourne this September include the 14th World Chambers Conference with 800 delegates and World Congress of Gastroenterology with 3,000 delegates; as well as the World Cancer Leaders’ Summit in November with 400 delegates.
Swanson is also looking forward to the Women Deliver 2026 Conference next year. With around 6,500 delegates expected to attend, this event will be regionally hosted for the first time by the Oceanic Pacific.
“Women Deliver is a significant international summit on gender equality. It’s been held before in Copenhagen, Vancouver and Kigali. Melbourne has bid three times for it, and we finally won it earlier this year. It’s a fascinating global group of experts in gender equality, and has a grassroots approach,” she explained.
When asked if global geopolitical events are helping Melbourne secure more of such conferences, Swanson stated the city and country are “getting a lot more interest and attention because of our approach to DEI”, a factor “coming up more and more” during the bidding process.
Swanson opined: “In the current environment, people want to find a destination that’s stable and is safe to meet. We are very multicultural, and have a stable political system and open culture, so there’s a predictability and trust about doing business in Australia.
“And if you layer our openness with DEI on top of that, that helps to move (the destination) up in the consideration set for decision makers.”
The Melbourne Convention Bureau is also actively seeking business events that foster sector development and create new platforms for experts. A prime example is the Global Wind Energy Conference, conceptualised and first held in Melbourne in 2023, then Incheon, Seoul in 2024. This September, the conference will return to Melbourne, maintaining its Asia-Pacific focus.
“Australia is looking to modernise its energy sector, and move from coal and fossil fuels into renewable energy. We have a lot of natural assets, hence we worked with the Victorian Government to build this conference up,” elaborated Swanson.
The city also has additional investments in the cancer space, as well as a new infectious diseases institute opening in the next few years. In addition, Melbourne’s second convention centre, the Nyaal Banyul Geelong Convention and Event Centre is scheduled to open in July 2026.
