Sydney Convention and Visitors Bureau (SCVB) has clocked up another year of strong bid wins, securing 35 meetings for the city during 2004-05.

The wins reflect an impressive bid strike rate of 71 per cent for the SCVB.

Meetings secured by the SCVB during 2004-05 include important international events such as the 2500-delegate International Federation of Surveyors Congress to be held in 2010 and the massive 13,250-delegate Amway Asia incentive meeting held in January this year.

Releasing the figures at SCVB’s Sydney on Sale business events exhibition, Managing Director Jon Hutchison said the bid wins had a collective estimated value of $148.1 million and would bring a further 37,000 delegates to Sydney and NSW over a six-year period.

Mr Hutchison said that while the SCVB’s strike rate remained high, the total number of bid wins was lower than previous years.

“This result represents a cyclical drop in the number of bid decisions made worldwide during 2004-05, as well as the increasing global competition for the meeting dollar which is making it harder to get on the bidding short list for some events, given the limited resources available to the SCVB.”

Mr Hutchison said Sydney continued to host the largest meetings in Australia according to the International Congress & Convention Association (ICCA) and the recently-released National Business Events Study.

“Our challenge is to stay fresh and relevant to the meetings market by continuing to upgrade our infrastructure and introduce new attractions and venues,” Mr Hutchison said.

He said the July 15 opening of the new Hilton Sydney was a landmark event for the business events industry, giving Australia its first true convention hotel.

“Other new attractions coming on line like the Skywalk experience at the top of Sydney Tower and the new zoo at Darling Harbour will also help maintain our international image as an interesting and vibrant destination.”

Mr Hutchison said Asia continued to be a strong source of meetings business. Many of the 2004-05 wins involved the medical, finance and scientific sectors and reflected Sydney’s ongoing popularity as a meetings destination for these communities, he said.

Mr Hutchison forecast a busy 2005-06 for his organisation with 26 bid decisions already pending.  These include the 200,000-delegate World Youth Day in 2008 and the 22,000-delegate Rotary International Convention in 2012.  Meanwhile, the SCVB will soon submit a bid for the World Scouts Jamboree, which will be held in December 2010-January 2011 and is expected to attract 30,000 participants.