And the loser is: Sydney’s APEC pull: [1 All-round Country Edition]
Stapleton, John. The Australian [Canberra, A.C.T] 30 July 2007: 7.
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Abstract
Meanwhile, an argument has erupted over comments by Australia’s ambassador to APEC, senior DFAT bureaucrat David Spencer, who claimed Sydney’s hotel rates had risen “100-fold” and a “shitfight” had broken out between various countries and their delegations over which hotels to stay in.
The APEC taskforce distributed an email to hotel operators over the weekend distancing itself from the comments, saying they had been “thrilled with the level of support and professionalism of all hotel operators we have dealt with”.
Full Text
APEC organisers are at a loss to explain why Sydney has proven such an unpopular destination, with delegate numbers about a third lower than expected.
About 6000 delegates, including government and business leaders from 21 countries, had been forecast to attend the event in September, as well as 1500 journalists from around the world.
But it has now been announced that only 4000 delegates and 1000 journalists will arrive.
A spokeswoman for the APEC taskforce yesterday said organisers were puzzled as to why Sydney was out of favour, but added that it was common for numbers to fluctuate in the lead-up to such a large event.
“We based the figures, and our negotiations with the hotel industry, on information provided by the previous hosts,” she said.
“But it is difficult to predict the final number. We haven’t yet done the in-depth research necessary to understand why these figures are lower than we expected.”
The number of delegates is down from the previous three APEC meetings, in South Korea, Vietnam and Chile.
In Sydney, about 25,000 hotel nights have been booked but 37,500 had been reserved.
More than 2000 luxury rooms in central Sydney are expected to be placed back on the market.
“Regardless of how you cut it, this will still be the largest gathering of economic leaders ever hosted in Australia, including George Bush from the US, Vladmir Putin from Russia and Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe,” the spokeswoman said.
Meanwhile, an argument has erupted over comments by Australia’s ambassador to APEC, senior DFAT bureaucrat David Spencer, who claimed Sydney’s hotel rates had risen “100-fold” and a “shitfight” had broken out between various countries and their delegations over which hotels to stay in.
The APEC taskforce distributed an email to hotel operators over the weekend distancing itself from the comments, saying they had been “thrilled with the level of support and professionalism of all hotel operators we have dealt with”.
The email said the taskforce disagreed with the claim rates had gone up 100-fold because APEC visitors were a captive audience.