$300,000 Boost for Sunshine Coast With Social Savvy Symposium Win

Business Events Sunshine Coast (BESC) has scored its first major win for the year with confirmation of a 2015 convention worth up to $300,000 for the Sunshine Coast region.

The 2015 Social Media Tourism Symposium, known as #SoMeT15AU will be held at the Events Centre in Caloundra from 22 to 23 July, 2015. The conference will attract 200 delegates from around Australia and internationally and inject approximately $300,000 into the local economy.

BESC Manager, Pippa McCreery said BESC was very excited to have won the SoMeT symposium for the Sunshine Coast.

“Our team has been working hard to bid for events which have extensive flow-on effects for the Sunshine Coast and SoMeT definitely fits this category, and kicks off the year in a positive direction,” Ms McCreery said.

“Caloundra is ideal as an event location for conference groups, not only due to its close proximity to Brisbane airport, but also its great public space access for offsite dinners, and of course it's close proximity to the hinterland for the business events visitor. In this instance The Events Centre and their accommodation partners Breakfree Grand Pacific and Monaco Resort have pulled out all stops,” added Ms McCreery.

Organiser of SoMeT and Chief Executive Officer of Destination Think, Rodney Payne said, “The Sunshine Coast is a perfect-sized destination for SoMeT and provides an inspiring environment with the added bonus of handy air access from New Zealand, for much of the Australian population and Asia Pacific.

“We want delegates to really understand the importance of social and digital for tourism. We're very excited to be working with the Sunshine Coast Destination and Business Events Sunshine Coast team and look forward to bringing SoMeT to Queensland for the first time,” said Mr Payne.

About SoMeT

SoMeT is the only conference of its kind that provides an opportunity for destinations and tourism businesses to share ideas and learn how to leverage social media within the tourism industry. SoMeT is tailored to destination marketing professionals from national organisations, regional boards and city tourism offices. An event is held each year in Australia, Europe and the United States. During the 2014 event held in the Barossa, #SoMeT was the number one trending topic on Twitter nation-wide during both days of the conference.