Business Events Victoria’s executive officer, Adeline Keh, said the annual showcase attracted hundreds – those who manned 50 exhibitor booths from destinations, venues and suppliers alongside more than 100 city-based meeting planners.
Keh said “the regions have always been punching above their weight” and strong results to date for this calendar year show that at least 87 business events have been secured.
“These were both national events and local domestic events and they generated an estimated economic impact of at least $9.6 million, 28,000 delegate days and more than 20,000 accommodation room nights,” she said.
According to Keh, one plus from the lockdowns of the pandemic was the focus on the regions as meeting and event destinations when people could not travel overseas or interstate.
“What has been very evident is that when they had to go domestic, it opened up their horizons to begin to understand there is so much on offer in our regions where businesses are investing in new products and new experiences.
“One of the things also evident is that national conferences and meetings have started to pick regional Victoria as the destination of choice as opposed to traditional capital city destinations.
“A lot of these meetings, although they circulate around the country, we find, are starting to look at regional Victoria particularly,” Keh said, citing the example of a forestry conference choosing to meet in Ballarat.
“It is not just about the four walls for a meeting, it is about differential experiences, the pre, the post and even the experiences available during the conference itself.”
She said the recent mega convention of Lions International in Melbourne generated pre and post-event activities in regional Victoria.
Although there are already some high-capacity venues in Geelong, including Higher Mark at GMHBA Stadium, the industry was clearly waiting for completion of Geelong’s dedicated convention and events centre, Nyaal Banyul, with its 1,000-seat plenary scheduled to open in 2026. Across the rest of Victoria, there are other regional cities with meeting venues for up to 600, such as Ballarat, Bendigo and Shepparton.
