Celebrating ten years of successful business, the Cairns Convention Centre continues to strengthen its position as a serious contender for national and international meetings.

Within the last two months it has won 12 convention bids attracting 7,000 delegates to the region that will inject AUD32 million directly into the local economy.

From those twelve confirmed events, the Australian & New Zealand College of Anaesthetists will be returning for their second visit while Cairns will host the Local Government of Queensland Annual Conference for the third time.

Dr John Lauritz, Convenor of the 1999 Australian Society of Anaesthetists National Scientific Congress is already looking forward to their return visit.

“Our meeting was so successful that our sister organisation, the Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists has chosen Cairns to host their 2009 event,” Dr Lauritz said.

And it isn’t only delegates that like coming back to Cairns. “A visit to Cairns is just like coming home,” Barrie Markey, Director of Australian event management company ICMS Pty Ltd, said.

“The Centre's management and staff have been there for years, they greet us like old friends. We’ve organised so many conventions in Cairns in the last 10 years and have many more scheduled in the years to come.”

“Having to plan so far ahead it gives you great sense of comfort knowing that not only the convention centre, but the whole town including hotels, audio visual suppliers, coach companies, attractions and cruise companies genuinely care about the success of your event,” Mr Markey said.

The Cairns Convention Centre’s Director of Sales and Marketing, Rochelle Uechtritz said, “there is no marketing tool more effective, or more rewarding, than a recent conference organiser telling an industry acquaintance why our Centre and the destination of Cairns should be considered for their future events.”

Recent conferences confirmed include:

• Australian Hydrographic Service Symposium (HYDRO2007), September 2007, 450 delegates
• Sustainable Development Conference, October 2007, 500 delegates
• Local Government of Queensland Annual Conference, August 2008, 750 delegates
• Australian Window Association National Conference, September 2008, 450 delegates
• Australian Small Animal Veterinary Association Annual Conference, August 2008, 500 delegates
• Hardware and Building Traders National Conference, 2008, 500 delegates
• Asia Pacific Human Proteome Organisation Conference, June 2008, 600 delegates
• Pacific Rim International Conference on Protein Science, June 2008, 700 delegates
• International Symposium on Staphylococci and Staphylococcal Infections, September 2008, 650 delegates
• Australian & NZ College of Anaesthetists 2009 Annual Scientific Meeting, May 2009, 1100 delegates
• Australian Pipeline Industry Association Convention, 2009, 450 delegates
• International Conference on Atomic Physics (ICAP 2010), July 2010, 600 delegates