The Batavia Coast Conference Centre & The Gerald Apartment Hotel in Geraldton is banking on leisure drawcards – such as the Pink Lake and Houtman Abrolhos Islands National Park – to attract more business events to the region.
The conference venue is relatively new, having opened post-lockdown in June 2021. The only purpose-built conference centre located between Perth and Broome, it can comfortably handle groups of between 10 and 400 delegates.
In response to a query about its current event breakdown, Rachel Finney, sales manager of both the conference centre and hotel, shared with TTGmice on the sidelines of BE reWArded Mega Famil’s B2B workshop, that the events at the venue are currently 20 per cent international, and 80 per cent domestic.
As for the industries involved, she shared: “Fishing is a massive industry in Geraldton, so we get conferences for that. For example, we are one of the biggest exporters of western rock lobsters in the world. We also get agriculture, mining, and logistic conferences.”
Finney pointed out that her presence at such a trade event was to attract more international events, and markets that she has her eye on are Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, China, UK and Europe, adding that the Jetstar flight between Singapore and Broome, although seasonal, is “great news” for the venue.
When asked how would the town handle a group of 400 pax, given that the hotel only had 40 rooms, Finney said that there were “four other quality hotels” in the town that they could coordinate with for overflows.
This year, the Batavia Coast Conference Centre has been working on building relationships with inbound tour operators in Australia.
“We’ve also participated in several trade missions and roadshows with Tourism Western Australia (TWA), which has brought us to Kuala Lumpur and Surabaya. Our owner has also gone over to the UK and Europe as part of a TWA delegation,” Finney added.
“We believe our destination is ideally suited for a two to three-night visit, and are actively working to entice corporate groups to (prolong) their stay beyond conferences to experience the region.”
