Adelaide to Host First Australian World Routes

ADELAIDE, Australia, October 23, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

The first Australian World Routes will take place in Adelaide following the city's successful bid to host the event in 2019.

     (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20150730/250177LOGO )

World Routes brings together over 3,000 delegates from airlines, airports and tourism authorities to discuss new air services. The largest conference and meeting forum in the aviation industry, World Routes moves to a new location every year to showcase different destinations to the airline network planning community.

The 25^th annual World Routes Development Forum will be hosted by South Australian Tourism Commission, Tourism Australia and Adelaide Airport. The event will bring South Australia to the attention of the world's leading airlines and provide a unique opportunity to negotiate new services.

Last year visitors injected a record AUD$5.95 billion into South Australia's visitor economy, as the State continued to attract a record number of international and interstate guests. An estimated 422,000 international travellers contributed a record AUD$944 million, up 9.5 percent from the previous year. South Australia appeals to visitors as a one stop destination for world class wine, unbeatable produce and unique native wildlife.

Tourists can cuddle a koala at Cleland Wildlife Park, swim with dolphins at the beachside suburb of Glenelg and cage dive with great white sharks on the Eyre Peninsula. Murray River, Kangaroo Island, the mountains of Flinders Ranges and 30km of unbroken white sand beaches are also popular.

World Routes will support South Australia's aim to achieve an AUD$8 billion tourism industry by 2020 through the growth of Adelaide's air services. The event itself will have an estimated impact of AUD$21 million on the local visitor economy.

Adelaide is Australia's fastest growing capital city airport. It was redeveloped in 2005 at a cost of AUD$260 million and AUD$1 billion is currently being spent on projects to further expand its capacity. Passenger numbers have grown steadily in the last decade to over 7.7 million and aircraft movements are expected to grow by 3% annually over the next 20 years.

The new routes added to Adelaide's international network this year include Qatar Airways' service to Doha and China Southern Airlines' service to Guangzhou (due to start in December).

UBM organises Routes events. Michael Duck, executive vice president of UBM Asia, said: "The first Australian World Routes will be an exciting event for our business. Adelaide is growing in popularity as a destination and it is a gateway to South Australia's many attractions. We look forward to working with the Adelaide team in the coming years."

South Australian, Minister for Tourism, Leon Bignell said: "Securing World Routes 2019 is a huge coup for South Australia. We beat the rest of the world to bring this massive convention to Adelaide.

"It is the world's biggest trade conference and will help deepen our connections with aviation leaders as well as see more than $20 million pumped into our visitor economy. The redeveloped Riverbank Precinct, together with the State's growing list of international airlines flying direct into Adelaide such as Qatar and China Southern, helped Adelaide secure World Routes. We are increasingly becoming internationally renowned as a world-class destination for major business events.

"We know South Australia is a great place to live, and now more people from interstate and overseas are discovering what our State has to offer. Our visitor economy is at a record $5.95 billion, as our State continues to attract record numbers of interstate and international visitors.

"That is why the State Government sees tourism and major events as an important part of the transformation of South Australia's economy.

"Our investments in recent years in our vibrant city and magnificent regions and our efforts to attract new major events to South Australia are delivering immediate results. 

"The State Government's strong partnership with Adelaide Airport Limited, Tourism Australia and the Adelaide Convention Bureau has also been instrumental in securing World Routes 2019 and I would like to thank them for their support and contribution," Minister Bignell said.

More information about World Routes can be found at routesonline.com

World Routes 2019, Autumn 2019, Adelaide Convention Bureau, Adelaide, Australia. 

Notes to Editors 

About Routes 

• Routes events are unique forums dedicated to the development of new air services. Five 'regional' route development forums are held between February and July in the Americas, Asia, Europe and Africa. The flagship World Routes event takes place in September. http://www.routesonline.com
• The events revolve around pre-scheduled meetings and an exhibition and conference which are delivered in partnership with host stakeholders. Hosts tend to be a collaboration between airports, tourism authorities and investment partners (the bidding process takes place two to three years before the event takes place).
• Routes is part of the EMEA division of UBM plc.

For further information contact:

Karen Reeves
Communications & Content Marketing Manager
Routes, UBM EMEA
T: +44(0)161-234-2721
M: +44(0)796-6405-105
E: Karen.Reeves@ubm.com