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This year’s AIME in Melbourne is the biggest show the Talk2 Media & Events team has organised, building upon AIME 2024, the largest AIME in a decade.

Talk2 Media & Events CEO Matt Pearce revealed that 100 more exhibitors are attending this year’s AIME than last year. This year, the largest contingent from New Zealand will ever participate in AIME, the region’s prime business events show.

Yesterday’s official press conference to launch AIME 2025 featured Pearce alongside Julia Swanson, CEO of the Melbourne Convention Bureau, and Phillipa Harrison, Managing Director of Tourism Australia.

Pearce said AIME’s range of exhibitions was as crucial as the number of exhibitors, and AIME 2025 had excelled. The team anticipates over 20,000 meetings on the show floor over the next few days.

Pearce said attendees last year said they would appreciate more time exploring the floor rather than at scheduled meetings, and this year’s show would open a little earlier each day to make that easier.

AIME’s Knowledge Program has grown five-fold, from a program with just a few hundred participants pre-Covid to more than 1500 people today, Pearce said.

Julia Swanson confirmed that demand to visit Melbourne was reaching new levels. In December 2024, 1.1 million people arrived at Melbourne Airport, the busiest month on record. New airlines serving the Victorian capital include China Eastern and China Southern. Major US airline Delta has also announced new services. Swanson added that hotel capacity is increasing fast, with another 2000 rooms scheduled to come on-stream over the next two years.

Swanson also launched Melbourne Convention Bureau’s ‘The Positive Impact of Business Events Report’, highlighting the immense value business events deliver to Victoria.

The report features case studies from business events in Melbourne over the past decade.

Philippa Harrison said business events earned $4.3 billion a year for Australia, and the sector was booming.