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Earlier this week over 190 guests gathered at an exclusive event at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre (MCEC), where it was announced that members of the Club Melbourne Ambassadors Program (CMAP) have secured 19 future major international conventions for Melbourne, that will bring 42,700 delegates to the city and inject more than AUD271 million into Victoria’s economy.
The evening’s celebrations were to mark the 3rd anniversary of CMAP, as well as to induct another 10 ambassadors into the program, bringing the total membership to 91.
Starting with just 20 members in 2005, the program is an initiative of the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre and the Melbourne Convention and Visitors Bureau, established to promote Melbourne as a business events destination and to position the city as Australia’s business events capital.
Members are influential Melburnians who are absolute leaders in their respective science, medical and research fields and who use their influence, contacts and industry knowledge to bring world class business events to Melbourne.
Special guests for the evening were the Governor of Victoria and CMAP’s Patron in Chief, Professor David de Kretser and Mrs Jan de Kretser.
Guest speaker Minister for Health, the Hon Daniel Andrews MP congratulated the new ambassadors and highlighted the fact that the majority of the ambassador-won conventions on the future agenda for the new Melbourne Convention Centre were health-related conventions.
‘The Club Melbourne Ambassadors are a very powerful face for Melbourne,’ Minister Andrews said.
‘Major international conventions and business events have a huge impact on Victoria’s economy, generating income that directly benefits our local industries, creating jobs and overall economic wealth for the state, and providing huge opportunities in the international business markets.
‘As Health Minister I am particularly interested to see that over 80 per cent of the 19 major international conventions won are focused on community health: Biochemistry and Molecular Biology; Applied Psychology; Human Reproduction; Huntington’s disease and Internal Medicine to name just a few.’
In introducing and congratulating the new CMAP members, MCEC chief executive Leigh Harry confirmed that the business events industry was continuing to grow and was big business for Melbourne.
‘Vying for and then securing these major events for Melbourne is not an easy task.’ Leigh said.
‘The fact that the new Melbourne Convention Centre will open its doors next year allows us to demonstrate that Melbourne will have the infrastructure to easily accommodate large international business events like these and therefore take full advantage of the positive economic impact they bring to the state,’ Leigh said.
Theodore is the Co-Founder and Managing Editor of TravelDailyNews Media Network; his responsibilities include business development and planning for TravelDailyNews long-term opportunities.
