Business events boom

It is no surprise that Sydney Olympic Park is recognised as an events precinct worldwide, hosting over 5,000 events annually. Of this staggering number nearly half of all events are business events, ranging from international trade shows, major conferences and team building activities.

Sydney Olympic Park Authority is committed to ensuring the Park is a premium destination for events, recognising the significant economic and social benefits it brings to the people of New South Wales.

Through various initiatives of the Authority working in partnership with venues in the Park, business events have boomed in Sydney Olympic Park with an incredible 2,456 held over the 2010-11 period.

January saw over 12,000 delegates of the Amway China incentive conference gather in the Park, adding more than $42 million to the New South Wales (NSW) economy, a small portion of the overall economic contribution to NSW made from events within the Park.

Also on the 2011 business events calendar was the largest ever trade show to be held in Australia, AIMEX 2011. Held at Sydney Showground, AIMEX 2011 is one of the world’s top mining exhibitions. AIMEX 2011 spread over eleven venues, equating to more than 50,000 square metres of exhibition space and attracted more than 600 exhibiting companies, making it the biggest in the event’s history.

A key draw card to organisers to choose Sydney Olympic Park to host their next event is the state-of-the-art venues on offer. In fact, Sydney Olympic Park’s venues are making waves nationwide and overseas by taking out coveted titles. Industry magazine, Venues Today, ranked Allphones Arena — formerly Acer Arena — number two in the world, based on ticket sales. In October, Sydney Showground was crowned Best Venue at the illustrious 2011 Australian Events Awards.