Adelaide’s compact size and world class facilities make the City an ideal venue for conferences and conventions, giving it the capacity to be the ‘conference city’ of Australia.
The majority of top class accommodation and the Adelaide Convention Centre and Exhibition Hall, the State’s premier meeting facilities, are centrally located in the CBD.
The City plays a major role in the national convention market holding a 17% share of all conventions held in Australia. It is third on the convention destination list in Australia; 17th in the Asia Pacific region, and 42nd internationally.
Over the next five years, more than 60 international and regional conferences have been booked for Adelaide. In the past 10 years, convention visitors to Adelaide have increased from 76,000 to 97,000 a year generating more than $235 million for South Australia.
The flow on effect of the growth in convention business is dramatic with a national conference delegate spending, on average, an additional day and international delegates an extra three to four days pre or post conference touring the State.
Adelaide City Council believes it is important not only to maintain this market share but build on it. To do this, it needs to raise convention marketing as a key strength of the City and coordinate targeted conventions with festivals and events to promote strategic objectives for Adelaide.
As a result, conventions form an integral part of the City’s Economic Development Strategy. In line with this strategy, Council provides funding of $150,000 a year to the Adelaide Convention and Tourism Authority.
It also supports, to the tune of $700,000 a year, Adelaide City Marketing as well as the City Pride program which funds a variety of projects that are visually improving the City. These range from restoration of heritage listed buildings to public realm improvements and assistance with visually improving privately owned vacant land.
