Book up Sydney to perk up the staff

The Life: Business incentive travel is but one of the many areas where Sydney has been gaining recognition as government and industry spends millions to develop first-rate facilities.

Business incentive travel has boosted Sydney's popularity. Getty Images

Swimming at Bondi Beach. A backstage tour of the opera house. Climbing the renowned harbour bridge. It is little wonder that Sydney was named one of the top destinations last year for business incentive travel - trips focusing on fun and food, paid for by employers to motivate staff to reach challenging goals.

Business incentive travel is one of the many areas where Sydney has been gaining recognition.

In 2010, it was named one of the top 10 cities for conferences and expos by the International Congress and Convention Association. Rather than sitting on its laurels after winning bids to host the International Breast Cancer Congress this year and the World Conference on Lung Cancer next year, work has started to build Australia's largest convention, exhibition and entertainment centre. The Darling Harbour complex is scheduled to open in 2016.

And Frank Gehry - the architect behind the Guggenheim Museum planned for Abu Dhabi - is designing the University of Technology, Sydney's new business school.

Condé Nast Traveller magazine readers voted the city's airport one of world's 10 best three times in the past decade. It handles about 45 per cent of the country's international passengers each year.

Most notable among the upgrading was the multimillion-dollar improvement of the runway in preparation for the A380's entry into service. The maiden flight of the superjumbo, which offers first-class passengers luxury suites and spa showers, was between Singapore and Sydney in October 2007.