MELBOURNE
Ellie Evans takes a look at a city that’s still very much open for business – and ready to show visitors a good time Melbourne: mixing business with pleasure
M elbourne has a reputation as Australia’s knowledge capital and, with the country’s highest concentration of conference facilities, knows how to use it. The convention bureau is weathering the Covid storm, delivering five events in 2020, with many pencilled to take place this year – and more than 100 by 2026. Before the business events sector shuttered in March, Melbourne hosted 140 events, attracting over 98,600 visitors: 47% more than the previous year. The 12th Congress of the Asia Pacific Federation of Societies for Surgery of the Hand attracted a record 900 delegates in March 2020. “Melbourne is an ideal destination for medical meetings: a state‐of‐the‐art convention centre in the heart of the city, world‐class universities and medical research precincts ensure that delegates are attracted not only to Melbourne
Melbourne is an ideal destination formedical meetings: a state-of-the-art convention centre in the heart of the city,” Emma Bowyer, managing director of organiser ICMS Australasia.
from a tourism perspective but as a destination to gain invaluable professional knowledge and connections from the strength of Melbourne’s institutions,” says Emma Bowyer, managing director of organiser ICMS Australasia.
mitmagazine.co.uk MAY 2021 69
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