ADELAIDE hotels and convention bureau stalwart Martin Radcliffe is the new general manager at the South Australia capital’s main conference and exhibition venue.
Radcliffe takes over from Simon Burgess who moved across the city to become GM at the National Wine Centre of Australia.
Anthony Kirchner, chief executive of Adelaide Venue Management, which operates Adelaide Convention Centre, said Radcliffe’s experience and networks across the global business events and hospitality industries make him uniquely qualified to lead the venue as it looks to recover from the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Martin has overcome a highly credentialed field of international candidates to win the Adelaide Convention Centre general manager role,” said Kirchner. “With his impressive background in business events sales at the Adelaide Convention Bureau and senior hospitality experience at some of Adelaide’s leading hotels, he’s the perfect fit for this important leadership position, and will be a fantastic ambassador for South Australia and the Adelaide Convention Centre both nationally and internationally.”
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Radcliffe worked as director of sales and marketing at Adelaide Convention Bureau from January 2008 to August 2015 and credited with attracting major international and domestic business events to South Australia, achieving a then record year in the bureau’s 40-year history in terms of economic benefit delivered to the state.
He was also GM at The Mayfair Hotel in Adelaide and held senior commercial roles with a major convention hotel and portfolio of large business centres across the UK. Most recently he has been running a business consultancy and is serving as chairperson of Adelaide Hills Tourism.
“I believe this is the perfect time to be commencing this role,” Radcliffe said. “Following the pandemic, business events and hospitality markets, both here in Australia and internationally, have certainly reenergised and recalibrated.”