Sydney’s spring meeting season started with a buzz in early September as the 19th World Energy Congress attracted 2200 local and international participants to Darling Harbour.

The prestigious event brought together some of the world’s leading figures to discuss energy sustainability and other topical issues at the Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre at Darling Harbour from September 5-9.

It marked the start of three busy months of international conferences for Sydney, recently ranked as the 14th most popular city in the world for business meetings by the International Congress & Conventions Association.

Sydney Convention and Visitor Bureau managing Director Jon Hutchison said 17 meetings won by the Bureau for 2004-05 would be held in the spring quarter.

“September to November is a busy period worldwide for meetings and Sydney has certainly attracted an impressive number of events this year.

“With convention delegates spending an average of $749 per day, this surge in meetings will inject millions of dollars into the Sydney and NSW economies.

“These events also provide an excellent forum for the exchange of ideas and the profiling of Australian industries, so will deliver many long term benefits to our State.”

Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre Chief Executive Ton van Amerongen said the Darling Harbour venue would be almost full on many days during spring as it welcomed 22 international and national conferences as well as major exhibitions such as the International Motor Show.

Mr van Amerongen said the 22 conferences would bring more than 23,000 delegates to the Centre.

International conferences being held in Sydney over the spring period include:

• Australasian Aquaculture Congress 2004 - September 26-29, 800 delegates
• 11th Meeting of the Combined Orthopaedic Association - October 25-29, 2000 delegates
• TraumaCare 2004 – October 15-17, 450 delegates
• Gartner Symposium/Itxpo - November 16-19, 1800 delegates.