The Cairns Convention Centre in Australia has reported increased event confirmations since its recent recognition as the World’s Best Congress Centre in the International Association of Congress Centres (AIPC) 2004 Apex Awards.

The Centre’s Managing Director, Geoff Donaghy said their recent international bid wins included:

• International Symposium on Microbial Ecology, July 2008 – 2000 delegates.
• International Meeting on Hepatitis C and Related Viruses, August 2006 – 750 delegates.
• International Conference on Photochemistry, July 2005 – 500 delegates.
• Trans Tasman Surveyors Conference & Spatial Sciences Regional Conference, September 2006 – 700 delegates; and
• Pacific Area Newspaper Publishers’ Association Conference, August 2005 – 550 delegates.

“Being able to give prospective clients the confidence that those very high levels of service they expect to find in major capital cities can also be delivered by a regional centre such as Cairns is proving to be a great benefit of this award” Mr Donaghy said.

The AIPC Apex Award is made annually on the basis of a comprehensive performance and customer satisfaction survey undertaken by an independent team from the University of Applied Science in Heilbronn, Germany.

The Centre has also reported growing interest from the Australian market with national conferences recently confirmed including:

• Royal Australasian College of Physicians Annual Conference, May 2006 – 1100 delegates
• Australian Council for Computers in Education Conference, September 2006 – 700 delegates; and
• Australian and New Zealand (ANZ) Society of Vascular Surgery Annual Conference, September 2006 – 550 delegates.

“Based on these recent results we expect to be undertaking an even split of national and international conventions within a year or so.  Even at this stage, we are forecasting meetings held in 2006 will contribute over AUD60 million to the region", Mr Donaghy said.