The Adelaide Convention Centre has always punched above its weight, nationally and internationally.
The relative small size of Adelaide - just over a million people - never intimidated the founding CEO, Pieter van der Hoeven, when it came to attracting major meetings and exhibitions.
He spent 19 years running a centre that's earned an enviable global reputation for quality and he and his team took Adelaide from a conference destination few had heard of, to a benchmark organisation voted one of the 10 best in the world just a few years back.
The new Chief Executive, former CEO of International Convention Centre Durban, Alec Gilbert, is a man of similar vision and determination. He's well used to international marketing and is not daunted by the growth of the convention business in Asia.
"We don't have the marketing dollars behind us to compete on equal terms with cities like Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, Hong Kong and Bangkok, whose governments are spending huge money in an effort to attract business after tough years of economic crises and health scares," says Alec. "But we can be smart with our marketing and turn the size of our city into a distinct advantage.
"In Adelaide, tourism-focused organisations can work together; pooling their resources and their strategic capabilities. It's what I call the TEAM approach -together each achieves more."
Mr Gilbert, who took the helm at the beginning of July, said Destination SA was a perfect example of how well this collaborative approach works. The Convention Centre is combining with ACTA (Adelaide Convention and Tourism Authority), the SA Tourism Commission and a host of venues and operators around the city and the State to showcase what SA has to offer as a "safe, eclectic and interesting destination".
The Centre recently proved it was a class act as the main venue for the massive Australian Tourism Exchange (ATE) - the largest international travel trade show in the region. It was attended by 1700 Australian delegates as well as 700 key tourism wholesalers from more than 40 countries, and injected around $10 million into the local economy.
SA Tourism Commission CEO, Bill Spurr, praised the Convention Centre, saying the feedback from ATE had been 'phenomenal'. "The positive comments from delegates about the facilities and staff during ATE is testament to the Centre's consistently high standard of customer service, and further reinforces its standing as a premier place to do business," he said.
On average, 300,000 people pass through the Adelaide Convention Centre's doors each year and in 2005-06, it hosted 682 events - surpassing its own record.
Interestingly, it is the only meetings venue in Australia to offer all event-related products and services in-house, while its competitors outsource various parts of their products and services.
"It means we can effectively ensure the quality of the end product - from food to technology," says Mr Gilbert. "We regard this as a core competency and a true differentiator. It means our people - and our equipment - have to be good, very good. And they are."
The Centre has bookings out to 2014 and there are some big events among them.
Next March it will be the Games Centre and "village" for the World Police and Fire Games, which will bring 10,000 people to Adelaide. This venture will see every centimetre of meetings and exhibition space being used, as well as the centre's "front garden" - the picturesque banks of the River Torrens and the Riverbank precinct, which links it with the Hyatt Regency and the Adelaide Festival Centre.
"The Games will challenge us, as they will challenge SA's tourism organisations, hotels, restaurants, taxi companies and transport authorities," said Mr Gilbert. "But that's what we're good at in South Australia ...working together and bringing off international events with a level of panache and efficiency that continues to surprise some of our competitors in much bigger places."
Further information: Sue Hocking, Director Sales & Marketing, Adelaide Convention Centre, ph +61 8 82124099, email: sales@adelaidecc.com.au
July 2006
