Daily News & Opinion

The return of the Sydney International Boat Show has been delayed until 2022 with a smaller Sydney Festival of Boating to take place in 2021 instead.

The festival is being presented by the Boating Industry Association (BIA) in place of the traditional mega event, which has not run since 2019.

The event will be held at ICC Sydney between July 29 and August 1 2021 across the upper-level exhibition halls and with undercover exhibitor displays on the rooftop Event Deck. Read more

Much has changed at Tourism Australia’s biggest tourism trade showcase, the Australian Tourism Exchange 2021.

After being cancelled in 2020 due to the pandemic, the format for the show’s 41st edition was totally redesigned for a pandemic-era return.

For the first time, ATE is being delivered as a hybrid event and stretched across two weeks, with ATE Live running between June 6 and 9 this week at ICC Sydney and ATE Online kicking off yesterday and running to June 17. Read more

Australia’s pandemic measures have boosted our global reputation according to The Economist Intelligence Unit’s latest Global Liveability Index.

For the first time in some years, there are four Australian cities in the top 10 – Adelaide at number three, Perth ranked sixth, Melbourne in eighth spot and Brisbane rounding out the top 10. Sydney is ranked 11th. Read more

For another seven days Melburnians cannot venture more than 25km from home, an edict that effectively shuts down the traditional Queen’s Birthday long weekend winter break for Victorians and for the struggling hospitality and tourism industries.

Last week the Victorian Tourism Industry Council, a peak body for the state’s tourism and events industries, surveyed members who reported that the majority expected to lose thousands of dollars in cancelled bookings over the long weekend. Read more

With continuing uncertainty in Melbourne – despite its hard lockdown set to lift tonight at midnight – Meetings & Events Australia (MEA) has postponed its national conference, Evolve, from July 1, 2021 until September 8.

The flagship live event hub for Evolve 2021 is Sofitel Melbourne on Collins, supported by satellite hubs in Sydney at Sofitel Sydney Darling Harbour and in Brisbane at Sofitel Brisbane Central, alongside a virtual option for those who can’t join in person. Read more

The questions from participants representing national associations kept coming and coming in the inaugural Masterclass about navigating the new event organising landscape for members of the Associations Forum.

The body, which represents around 600 associations, joined forces with Connected Event Group for the virtual program that unpacked the latest lessons for operating in the virtual, hybrid and live event landscape this week. Read more

Melbourne’s lockdown conditions will ease significantly at midnight tonight, although many restrictions will remain in place for at least the next week. Whether events can be held also remains unclear.

From midnight, Melbournians will be permitted to leave home for any reason, food and drink venues will be allowed to host up to 50 customers indoors, shops will reopen and outdoor seated entertainment for up to 100 people can take place. Read more

The state’s convention bureau has released a video highlighting the potential for the city in Tasmania’s north to host business events of up to 500 attendees.

“When talking to our market, we hear that people know about Tasmania’s capital city Hobart but outside of that, their knowledge of our beautiful Tasmanian cities is relatively low,” says Business Events Tasmania CEO Marnie Craig. Read more