Australia Wants to Serve as Model for the Future of Conventions

Convention centers around the world have revamped in recent years to provide a better value proposition to events looking to provide a more high-touch experience to attendees.

This week we examined what’s new in Australia and New Zealand, where the region’s convention centers have undergone massive improvements in flexibility for event planners and the technology undergirding the event experience.

We also have an examination of the dangers faced by women who travel for business, and a look at how destination marketers are becoming more involved in destination management in an era of overtourism.

If you have any feedback about the newsletter or news tips, feel free to reach out to me via email at as@skift.com or tweet me @sheivach.

— Andrew Sheivachman, Senior Editor

The Future of Events and Meetings

Australia and New Zealand Have a New Bigger-Is-Better Pitch for Conventions: Australasia’s major convention centers are undergoing significant redevelopments. They’re getting bigger and better to cope with the growth of mega-meetings, delegates demanding experiences, and the need to save the planet.

Safety Issues Severely Impact Women During Business Travel: Women who travel for business need more resources and support from the companies that dispatch them around the world. Raising awareness of the issues they face can only do so much.

Destination Marketers Look Beyond Selling to Tourism Management: Having skilled managers on board gives another purpose to destination marketing organizations that face questions from communities of whether tourism marketing is worth it in 2018.

Around the Industry

College Football’s Big Score for Local Tourism: They say college football is like a religion. Its worshippers are creating a whole new category of tourism across the country during the fall.

Luxury Hotels Bring in More Celebrity Chefs in Guest Gigs: In a day when exclusive access and intimate experiences are heralded over material goods, a meal prepared by world-class chefs in a spectacular setting is something luxury consumers are willing to travel for.

Burlesque Dancers at French Conference Draw Sexism Complaints: Regardless of the cultural climate, the reality is that business conference organizers know that many attendees relish seeing half-nude women dance at evening events. There’s no quick fix for the structural sexism ingrained into the business world.

Istanbul’s New $25 Billion Airport Opens Amid Fanfare: Istanbul is located in the right part of the world for a massive global connecting hub, so this could be money well spent. But it’ll be some time before we know for sure.

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Skift Senior Editor Andrew Sheivachman [as@skift.com] curates the Skift Meetings Innovation Report. Skift emails the newsletter every Wednesday.

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