A STUDY by American Express Global Business Travel (GBT) has revealed that cities in Asia-Pacific remain high on the list for Australian business travellers, with the top four spots going to Singapore, Auckland, Hong Kong and Bangkok.

This highlights the significance of regional centres for Australian businesses.

London however, maintains its spot as the highest ranked destination outside of Asia-Pacific, followed by San Francisco and New York. Meanwhile, strong links between Australia’s technology sector and the Silicon Valley as well as improved airline connectivity appear to be driving an increase in business travel to San Francisco, which has overtaken New York as the top US business destination for Australians.

In Asia-Pacific alone, Singapore, Auckland and Hong Kong remain unchanged as the top three business travel destinations, while Bangkok returns to the rankings after a year’s absence. This highlights a renewed confidence in the city following a brief period of political unrest, while China’s declining popularity could be linked to the country’s economic performance.

“While we haven’t seen movement across our top three international destinations for Australian business travellers, we have noticed a decline in business travel to China over the past twelve months,” said Jo Sully, vice president and general manager, American Express GBT, Australia.

“Shanghai has fallen from sixth to tenth in the overall international rankings, and Beijing has dropped off the rankings entirely.”

“Despite recent reports that China has overtaken the US as the world’s largest business travel market, the Chinese travel market continues to be dominated by domestic travel. The decline in Australian business travel to China is likely to be heavily influenced by the slowdown in the Chinese economy and a wane in their demand for Australian resources.”

This data encompassed all air bookings made directly with GBT for Australia-based travellers between March 2015 to April 2016, and shows the top 10 most-booked destinations within the Asia-Pacific region and globally.

ALTHOUGH only one of several developments within the Adelaide BioMed City Precinct has been completed – with the rest coming up over the next few years through to 2020 – the massive redevelopment along Adelaide’s Riverbank Precinct has drawn significant attention from health and medical associations worldwide. This has led to a line-up of 45 conventions that will take place between 2015 and 2016.

Damien Kitto, CEO of the Adelaide Convention Bureau, told TTGmice that a “large majority” of the wins were association gatherings and many of them were led by national associations.

Kitto attributed Adelaide’s recent success in health and medical events to the Adelaide BioMed City Precinct.

According to Marco Baccanti, chief executive of government agency Health Industries South Australia, the A$3.6 billion (US$2.7 billion) project is significant because it houses facilities that “combine the entire value chain, starting from academic research and scientific research at South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute (SAHMRI)” and will “bring about a combination of academic and clinical research, training, therapy for patients, and business activities”.

SAHMRI, which was the first facility to be completed in 2013, now houses 600 researchers from across the globe and these individuals “provide rich content to help us to bid and win related events”, explained Kitto.

Steve Wesselingh, executive director of SAHMRI, said the facility also helps to bring health and medical association conventions to Adelaide by offering to secure high-level speakers for the programme, organising site visits for the delegation, drawing national and international attendees to the convention, and writing letters of support to the international organising committee that extol the scientific strengths of its departments.

Last week, Adelaide Convention Bureau held its second Adelaide BioMed City Showcase, to raise awareness of the ongoing Adelaide BioMed City Precinct development and the transformation of the Riverbank Precinct, and how high-level state support is available for associations keen on taking an event to the South Australian state capital.

Kitto revealed that 70 medical experts had attended the event – double that of the inaugural showcase in April 2015 – and these participants were “associated with over 100 event possibilities for Adelaide and 90 per cent of those are international gatherings”.

The current calendar of 45 health and medical association conventions will draw some 16,000 delegates to the city and is forecasted to generate A$59 million in economic benefit.