In April, over 16,000 delegates from Amway China journeyed to Melbourne, Australia, for their annual leadership seminar, which utilized over 32,000 hotel rooms, 370,000 square feet of event space and nearly 10,000 pounds of porterhouse steak.
Held in multiple waves throughout the month of April, the incentive event was the largest ever held in Australia and also the largest ever outbound Chinese incentive program. The program was organized into waves of between 2,000-3,000 attendees and generated an estimated approximately $65 million USD in economic impact. Many destinations may have been pushed to the brink under such a monumental event, but the Melbourne Convention Bureau was up to the task.
“Melbourne is very much driven by being an event city, so that’s what we really leaned into,” said Julia Swanson, CEO of the Melbourne Convention Bureau. “It’s a city that offers compact diversity in its downtown area, so it’s very cosmopolitan, and we’re a nighttime economy. There’s always something happening in Melbourne.”
A Case for Melbourne
Melbourne originally bid for the event back in 2022. Swanson said one of the city’s main selling points was its ability to provide unique experiences for Amway’s attendees. The DMO helped to create 17 different customized tours, which highlighted the destination’s main draw for many business and leisure travelers: its wildlife.
“They toured our Yarra Valley Winery region, which also included trips to Healesville wildlife sanctuary; [experienced] our Puffing Billy train, which goes through a forest area; and [toured] Werribee Open Range Zoo, which is an African-themed zoo,” Swanson said.
The tours included stops at 20 of the area’s attractions, including Sovereign Hill, Phillip Island Nature Park, Twelve Apostles, Rochford Winery, Melbourne Skydec and the National Gallery of Victoria.
But the real case for Melbourne hosting this enormous incentive event came down to its event infrastructure, including hotel space, event venues and airport capacity, all of which were able to meet Amway’s standards.
The Amway delegates stayed across eight hotels and accounted for approximately 32,000 rooms throughout the course of the program. The program utilized Melbourne Showgrounds, which offers over 100,000 square feet of total event space, as the anchor venue for the event’s business sessions and gala dinners. Swanson also said the Melbourne Airport offers a variety of direct flights, which reduces the need for layovers, and is used to accommodating large groups who travel to Victoria for events such as the Australian Grand Prix and Australian Open.
“Because we have that event infrastructure, we have the whole supply chain,” Swanson said. “So, all the venues are used to managing significant large events. So, the whole supply chain works together to make those events a success.”
[Related: Highlights from Tourism Australia’s Incentive Showcase and a Gold Coast Tour]
Incentive Activities
One of the challenges the Melbourne Convention Bureau team ran into was planning incentive programs for 2,000-3,000 attendees each week. The team put a large emphasis on personalized incentive activities throughout the city that allowed attendees to “choose their own adventure.”
“When you’re bringing in 16,000 people, you want to give people diversity of choice, and our city is very well positioned for that,” Swanson said. “And it’s a very safe city, it’s very walkable, it’s easy to get around, so it’s custom-built to deliver large incentives.”
One of the activities that Melbourne is especially known for is hot air balloon rides groups can coordinate with the DMO.
“[Melbourne] is one of the rare cities in the world that you can hot air balloon directly over the city,” Swanson said. “It’s really quite an incredible experience to go up just before sunrise and then see the sunrise over the city.”
Swanson said the DMO often partners with clients that would like to “create” their own balloon, and did so with Amway, producing a branded balloon that could be both ridden by attendees and seen by 5 million residents of Melbourne.
“It’s a very unique and special experience,” Swanson added.
Amway organizers were happy with the outcome of the event and grateful to Melbourne for hosting the program.
“On the special occasion of Amway China’s 30th anniversary, we were thrilled to gather in Melbourne for our Leadership Seminar,” said Carl Wen, director of special events for Amway China. “Our delegates enjoyed sharing knowledge and discovering everything this incredible city has to offer.”
Read more incentive stories in the Spring/Summer edition of Incentives Today
