The Territory Labor Government recognises the importanceof the business events market to the Territory economy and continues to supportthe sector through our Turbocharging Tourism stimulus investment.
From 8 to 11 August, the 2019 Meet Darwin familiarisation program will bedelivered in partnership between Tourism NTs Northern Territory ConventionBureau and the Darwin Convention Centre.
Thefour day familiarisation is the largest ever staged and will showcase Darwin asone of Australias leading business events destinations and host 20 business eventplanners from throughout Australia who will engage with 45 NT industrypartners.
MeetDarwin aims to deliver new business event opportunities to the NT and issupported by the Territory Labor Governments $7 million TURBO2 investment toattract more national and international business events.
Theevent planners attending Meet Darwin represent over 8,800 potential nationaland international delegates across health, education, environment, and tourismindustries.
Inthe 2018/19 financial year, over 19,000 national and international delegatesattended events at the Darwin Convention Centre, providing over $54 million indelegate spend.
TheTerritory Labor Government recently released its first Long-term BusinessEvents Strategy to 2030 which identified the need to increase the number offamiliarisation trips to encourage business event planners to experience the NTfor themselves.
Thisstrategy is complemented by the Northern Territory Business Events SupportFund, a component of the NT Governments Turbocharging Tourism stimuluspackage, which offers financial assistance to eligible organisationsconsidering the Northern Territory as the location to host their businessevents.
As stated by Minister for Tourism, Sport andCulture, Lauren Moss:
The Territory Labor Governments TurbochargingTourism investment in business events attraction has already secured 45business events that will generate an estimated $32.8M in delegate expenditure - this is a direct boostto our economy meaning more local jobs.
TURBO2 initiative includes a furtherinvestment of $7 million over two years to attract more national andinternational business events to the NT through the NT Business Events SupportFund.
The Meet Darwin familiarisation programoverwhelmingly conveys that Darwin is a competitive, distinctive and meaningfuldestination to stage business events.
As stated by Peter Savoff, General Manager,Darwin Convention Centre:
Nowin its eleventh year, the Meet Darwin joint program has proven to be one of ourmost successful initiatives to attract future conferences to the city and ourworld-class, award-winning Darwin Convention Centre.
Weoften find event planners have not been to Darwin before and are unaware ofwhat we have to offer. The Meet Darwin program provides key decision makers theopportunity to visit the Top End and experience first-hand our business eventsvenues and expertise.
Wewant to continue to build on the momentum of the previous year and secure morenational and international conferences with high numbers of delegates. TheCentre prides itself of being at the heart of business events in the Top End.
