South Australia was on show last week for the Adelaide Convention Bureau’s yearly Destination South Australia (DSA) showcase.

Taking place across three days, business event planners from all corners of Australia flew in to Adelaide to sample the city and the wider region’s C&I highlights, as well as a series of one-to-one meetings with venues, hotels, and a variety of other relevant suppliers.

DSA kicked off with its annual welcome reception, which is a chance for guests to see one of the city’s premier venues in action. Guests were picked up from their hotels on Wednesday evening and taken to the famous sporting haven, the Adelaide Oval, where champagne and canapes were awaiting them on the Lindsey Head Terrace.

As guests meandered between food stalls, which ranged from light bites to gourmet stonebaked pizza, Adelaide Convention Bureau CEO, Damien Kitto, revealed the forecast for the year ahead, with 13 events over 1,000 delegates already scheduled for 2018.

It was time to get down to business the next day, with the Adelaide Convention Centre, fresh from its $400m re-development, the host venue for the DSA Adelaide’s Business Events Exchange. A full-day programme of meetings gave event planners the chance to meet one-on-one with a range of South Australia suppliers, including wineries from the Barossa to McClaren Vale, the recently opened events and late-night venue The Hindley, and luxury boutique properties, the Mayfair Hotel and The Playford.

That evening, a jam-packed day of networking was celebrated with a visit to one of Australia’s most cutting edge venues, the remarkable The d’Arenberg Cube. With a food and wine experience unlike any other in the region, the unique McClaren Vale venue opened its doors to the DSA guests who wandered through the multi-floored experiential maze, before ending on the rooftop terrace where wine, oysters, and canapes were served.