There was a particular buzz around the room when buyers met sellers at Cairns Convention Centre over a half-day “speed dating” program on Monday.
The reason? Next week the region will host 2,800 international incentive delegates from Amway South Korea, arriving in waves of more than 500 every Monday to enjoy four days of rainforest and reef experiences.
Although not every hotel, venue or experience provider is directly hosting the Amway group, the region hosted Amway China on a similar visit in 2019 and as one local explained, “when the tide comes in, all boats rise”.
The 24 Connect in Cairns delegates were selected by Business Events Cairns & Great Barrier Reef from an applicant group more than twice as large, demonstrating the strong interest in the region for business events.
The bureau’s business events manager, Natalie Johnson, said the bureau team wanted to find people who had not been to Cairns before, or hadn’t been to Cairns for quite some time. The group is “predominantly professional conference organisers, but we did have three direct associations and two corporate buyers as well” she says.
micenet was one of three media invited along with major sponsor Tourism & Events Queensland.
Among many highlights of Connect in Cairns – the bureau’s first major educational trip for buyers since 2021 – were visits to the Great Barrier Reef, including guided snorkelling with marine biologists; walks with a local Elder through the Mossman Gorge within the World Heritage-listed Daintree Rainforest; travelling around in the latest 24-seat electric tour coaches; site inspections of hotels and venues such as the new Mexicairns where social competition is the latest thing.
The food was also a bright point, particularly a spectacular dinner in one of the repurposed naval oil storage tanks from WWII, which sit within Cairns Botanic Gardens. On the entertainment front at the dinner, a local version of The Andrews Sisters was a hit as we listened to Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy on Australia’s Remembrance Day.
Asked about the region’s business events performance, Johnson said 2025 was a good year and next year was looking better.
“We’ve got a lot of leads that are still open,” she says.
“We are seeing smaller numbers in the association market, and that’s attributed a lot to the cost of living. People want to stay closer to home. They need to choose what conferences they go to. So, that can be a bit challenging as well, getting larger numbers for associations.
“The average group size to Cairns and Great Barrier Reef is about 150 across the board. But most numbers that we work with, with the bureau, are about 300.”
She says significant effort has gone into hosting the Korean group, including preparation of cheat sheets containing key Korean phrases, and tips on their cultural and food preferences, including ensuring that there is plenty of Kimchi available over the five week event period.
And 2026? “The international market’s looking really, really strong,” says Johnson, echoing sentiments we heard during the visit espousing the hope that pre-COVID numbers would return from their current level of about 85 per cent.
