Business Events Sydney recently held its 12th Global Ambassador dinner with the premier of New South Wales (NSW), Chris Minns, in attendance, as well as inducted eight new global ambassadors.
They are Larissa Behrendt, a laureate fellow at the Jumbunna Institute at the University of Technology Sydney; Kylie Hargreaves, chair of Australian Alliance for Energy Productivity; Jason Kovacic, director and CEO of Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute; Sarah Liu, founder & managing director of TDC Global (The Dream Collective); Mani Thiru, co-founder and chief commercial officer, Andromeda Robotics; Toby Walsh, professor of Artificial Intelligence, Department of Computer Science and Engineering with the University of NSW Sydney; Jennifer Westacott, chancellor of Western Sydney University; and Jon Whittle, director of Australia’s national scientific research agency, CSIRO’s Data61.
Chair of the BESydney Board, Mary O’Kane, said: “Our ambassadors are key to us securing major business events and top scientific conferences. As such, they play a pivotal role in powering the State’s knowledge economy”.
John Graham, NSW’s minister for jobs and tourism, added: “Business events are a critical part of the visitor economy and Sydney is the capital of business events in Australia. The scale of the forward pipeline out to 2030 illustrates this perfectly: 115 business events delivering more than A$562 million in direct expenditure and attracting 140,000 global delegates to Sydney and NSW.
“The BESydney Ambassadors announced tonight bring the network that will build on this pipeline and generate more economic activity. Business events will be an important focus in the Visitor Economy Strategy 2030 Review to be published later this year”.
This year’s theme was Change Starts Here, a nod to BESydney’s Agenda for purposeful business events and its economic and social impact efforts for which the organisation has been globally awarded. Around 380 members of the BESydney community were in attendance at the dinner held at the ICC Sydney.
He brings a wealth of experience to the role having worked with Accor, Wanda Hotels & Resorts, Starwood Hotels & Resorts and Yongle Huazhu.
Shanghai Pudong International Airport, recognised as one of the busiest international hub in China, will install SITA’s common-use self-service bag drops (SBD) and kiosks for foreign airlines and their passengers to speed up passenger processing.
Half of the airport’s total passenger traffic is made up of international travellers, and numbers are set to rise as more international routes reopen post-pandemic. As such, there is a pressing need for faster and easier operations at the airport.
The contract will see the deployment of 52 kiosks and 14 SBDs across the airport, allowing international passengers to independently check in early before counters open.
Coming up next, SITA will work with Shanghai Pudong airport to enhance end-to-end self-services through a low-touch, safe environment, which is also in line with the airport’s digital transformation strategy.
Sumesh Patel, president, SITA APAC, said: “As air travel booms globally, and airports see a massive surge in travellers, there is an increased need for technology that can speed up the boarding process, reducing delays and traffic for passengers.”