Daily News & Opinion

This week Merlin Entertainments has announced that its Darling Harbour attractions – SEA LIFE Sydney Aquarium, WILD LIFE Sydney Zoo and Madame Tussauds – will re-open their doors on June 1. There will of course be extra hygiene measures in place to ensure the safety of visitors, including completely cashless operations and the lowering of capacity limits with allocated time-slots for guests. For business events, Merlin Entertainments is currently offering private dinners for up to 10 people in its Great Barrier Reef exhibit.

The Exhibition and Event Association of Australasia (EEAA)’s Young Stars Committee has recently launched the Young Stars Mentor program. The program was devised to ensure that the talent in the business events industry stays in the industry, and will initially be run through a pilot. On the launch, co-chair of EEAA Young Stars Kay Badakhsh said: “The program enables a personalised approached for the mentees with their mentor(s) to enable them to develop skills in Leadership, Management, Networking and Cross-training.”

Australia’s largest private hotel owner, Dr Jerry Schwartz, has come up with a rather creative way to boost Sydney’s tourism and convention revival post COVID-19. Indeed, he has launched a proposal to establish a permanent helipad on the roof of Sofitel Sydney Darling Harbour, which is located adjacent to the ICC Sydney. Dr Schwartz said that he envisages world leaders arriving at Sydney Airport and being flown directly to the Darling Harbour Helipad to make keynote addresses at the ICC Sydney.  

Visit Sunshine Coast (VSC) CEO Simon Latchford has announced his resignation after almost four years in the role. Under his leadership, the region achieved record results in the National and International Visitor Surveys for 2019, and became Queensland’s fastest growing region in 2019 in terms of visitor numbers and visitor expenditure. Chair of VSC David Ryan said that Simon had invested massive energy and commitment during his time at VSC and would now take an extended break with his family.

Across April and May, Business Events (BE) Perth has secured 14 new bid wins which are expected to attract 5000 delegates to the city in late 2020, 2021 and 2022. In the last week alone, BE Perth secured five events in the technology, agriculture and education sectors. Events are still being rescheduled into Perth’s 2021 business events calendar, including the Emergence Creative Conference 2021, which has been rescheduled to March 2021, and the 17th National Immunisation Conference 2021, which has been rescheduled to June 2021.

With its doors currently closed, The Langham, Melbourne has shifted its focus and remained active. As well as selling gift vouchers and its well-loved Blissful Beds – which have been very popular during the isolation period – the hotel has maintained a presence on all eight of its social media accounts. The team has shared various community messages through #LanghamAtHomeSeries, including one from the executive housekeeper on how to prepare your bedroom for winter; and a self-wellness guide by the hotel’s Chuan Spa.

AsiaWorld-Expo, one of two major convention and exhibition centres in Hong Kong, recently introduced the world’s first “CLEANTech” disinfection installation to up the ante on health and safety precautions. The mobile installation features BioEm Air Sanitising and Purifying technology and negative room pressure to effectively ‘disinfect’ visitors before entering event halls. The outer door opens automatically following a built-in temperature check. Once inside the capsule, CLEANTech is said to sanitise visitors’ clothes and belongings in just 12 seconds.

Following the cancellation of the 2020 Monaco Formula 1 Grand Prix and the 2020 Monaco Historic Grand Prix, the Automobile Club de Monaco (ACM) has decided to organise three Grand Prix in 2021, in the space of one month. The events all being held within one month will present a logistical challenge for the team and staff at ACM. The track will be set up from the end of February, as opposed to March 15, and technical aspects will need to be integrated on it.