SYDNEY will welcome an extra 46,210 international conference delegates at events worth almost A$145 million to the local economy. This is an annual result by the Sydney Convention and Visitors Bureau (SCVB).

The result reinforces Sydney’s standing as a centre for international events, demonstrated in July when the city welcomed more than 200,000 pilgrims for World Youth Day.

In the year to June 30, 2008, the SCVB won bids for 37 international conferences, incentives and other business events, to be held in Sydney between now and 2014. These include 10 events from the rapidly growing markets of Asia, which contributed $29.2 million to the SCVB’s annual scorecard.

The result is a solid increase on the 30 events secured the previous year, worth just over $100 million and 24,960 delegates.

SCVB managing director Jon Hutchison said the bureau had increased its bid success rate to 71 per cent during last year and this year.

“The SCVB’s success rate is consistently high and demonstrates both the strength of the Sydney brand and the strategic approach we take when securing events for our city,” he said.

“Sydney undoubtedly remains one of the world’s most desirable cities and this is reflected in surveys around the world,” he said. “It also remains Australia’s leading conference city and one of the Asia-Pacific region’s most important meeting centres, which was again confirmed in the latest rankings by the International Congress and Convention Association.”