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Still in Melbourne, the Victorian Government has allocated an additional $52.2 million over four years to maintain and build Victoria’s major events calendar. “We are the best in the world at winning and staging major events and this additional funding will keep us ahead of the competition,” said Victorian Minister for Tourism and Major Events, John Pandazopoulos. “It will not only help attract new events but will support Victoria’s existing calendar of outstanding events including the Formula One Grand Prix, the Australian Tennis Open, the International Airshow, Melbourne Winter Masterpieces and the AFI Awards.”

InterContinental Hotels Group plans to roll out its new Express by Holiday Inn properties across New Zealand and Australia soon. The hotels are a limited service version of the current Holiday Inn properties. IHG’s new chief operating officer for Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific, Keith Barr, said the Express by Holiday Inn will target independent business travellers. “But first we have to fine-tune the product for the market place,” Mr Barr said. It’s hoped the first sites for the new Express by Holiday Inns, already operating in Britain, will be identified in the two countries by the end of this year. In the meantime the same brand is already opening across China. The plans are part of a global expansion strategy by IHG which has seen the company sell some of its assets in the Australia, New Zealand and South Pacific region to focus on brand performance and adding to its management portfolio. As part of the growth Mr Barr said IHG is considering opening InterContinental properties in Auckland, Brisbane and Melbourne to tap further into the MICE market.

Jack Osbourne (of The Osbournes fame) took flight recently at Queenstown’s Fly By Wire then threw himself into a session of spectacular jumps at the Canyon Swing before grounding himself in a scenic wander around the town. His whistle-stop tour of the resort is to provide footage for a follow-up to his ‘Jack Osbourne Adrenaline Junkie’ series and the man himself was suitably impressed with resort’s adventure opportunities. “Queenstown is like a playground for the big kids!  It’s just a quick trip this time but has been great fun,” he said. Jack was in New Zealand as part of the Tourism New Zealand International Media Programme with assistance from Air New Zealand and Regional Tourism Organisations.  His new factual entertainment series covers his experiences as he travels the globe taking on adventure challenges. The programme is to be broadcast in the UK and globally. The NZ international media programme hosts about 400 media groups each year, approximately 100 of which cover Queenstown in broadcast and print media. Fly by Wire sales and marketing manager, Jessica Trimming, said the company is glad to support the programme. “Queenstown operators are well aware of the impact of shows like this and are keen to support visiting media,” she said.

InterContinental Resort and Thalasso Spa Bora Bora, the newest resort in one of the world’s most idyllic locations, is now open and about to rewrite the definition of luxury accommodation in the Pacific. The new InterContinental Resort will lay claim to being the first in Bora Bora to have every one of its 80 rooms sitting over the clear waters of the lagoon and, with each one measuring more than 100 square metres of floor space, guests won’t even have to leave their bungalows to enjoy the location. Each bungalow features its own expansive private terrace and separate bathing deck, and is fitted out with everything you’d expect – and some things that would surprise – of a luxurious island retreat. InterContinental Resort and Thalasso Spa Bora Bora will also be the first to introduce an environmentally friendly seawater air-conditioning system, cooling every part of the resort with deep sea water and reducing electricity consumption, pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. Visit www.borabora.intercontinental.com for further details.

Melbourne is to get another stadium to add to its impressive list of sports infrastructure. The new 20,000-seat stadium will be built in the Olympic Park precinct and will be used for rugby and soccer, a sports campus and elite training centre. CEO of the Melbourne Convention & Visitors Bureau, Sandra Chipchase, said that no city in the world can boast world-class sporting infrastructure like Melbourne so close to the city. “Our stadiums are not only used for major sporting events, but also provide interesting and unique venues for major business events and incentives. International incentive groups can experience the thrill of walking into the centre of the Melbourne Cricket Ground, where many countries have competed in historic cricket tests. Other groups can experience the excitement of Australian Rules Football, a true Aussie experience that began in Melbourne in 1896,” she said. The new stadium will be completed by 2009.

Rotary International has appointed Conference Online as their preferred supplier for all their conferences and events. Rotary International is probably the largest not-for-profit group who hold a multitude of conferences around Australia. According to Conference Online, Rotary approached Conference Online to find a solution to their dilemma – finding a system to cope with every chapter within Rotary changing their committees regularly and continually recreating ways to manage their conferences. They had tried manual forms, developing spreadsheets, buying in-house software plus upgrading computers. Rotary International now uses the Conference Online registration and reporting system. Their first conference using the system is for 1000 delegates in Canberra.

Business tourism is on the rise in Australia with the number of business tourists to Australia increasing by 14 per cent in 2005, according to the latest Australian Bureau of Statistics data. In 2005 735,400 business tourists arrived in Australia which was an increase of 89,900 or 14 per cent on 2004. Growth came from Canada (13,100) up 17 per cent, China (66,100) up 20 per cent, Germany (15,500) up 13 per cent, India (17,300) up 40 per cent, and the United States (93,500) up 11 per cent.

One of New Zealand’s leading corporate team event management companies, CluedUp, has opened a Melbourne office, headed by Amber Pratt. CluedUp aims to become an integral part of the Victorian convention scene, working closely with meeting and event planners to deliver stimulating breakout sessions and team events. For details visit www.cluedup.com.au

The International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA) has released rankings for the most number of international congresses in 2005 and rates the USA on top in the country category and Vienna on top in the city category. This year the ICCA data researchers have identified 5,315 events which took place in 2005, a rise of 511 over 2004. According to ICCA this partly represents the strength of the market, and to a growing membership of ICCA informing ICCA of their successful bid wins.