Ambassadors involved in the bidding process for international events are not interested in personal gain, according to the initial findings of research undertaken by Australia's Victoria University for the International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA).

The survey, conducted last week, looked at the motives of ambassadors when bidding for international meetings and events. Ambassadors from Club Melbourne, Sarawak Convention Bureau Ambassador Conference Scholarship Programme and the Al Safeer Program, Dubai, were questioned as part of the research.

Of those surveyed, 77 per cent said that their last bid was successful, with feedback indicating that the main reason for participation was for the prestige and recognition of both the body or association they supported and the host city. Personal motives scored very low, and ambassadors were not taking part to gain anything personally.

Martin Robertson, director of honours programmes and lecturer for event management at Victoria University, said: “We were approached by ICCA as a member university to do this survey as there is not a huge amount of research on ambassadors and what they are motivated by.

“We can see they are not there for the social benefits. That’s not important, so maybe we need to revisit this in the future.”

Ksenija Polla, membership manager at ICCA, added: “Only last year the Board at the ICCA Congress in Leipzig decided we have to have research we can use, so this project is very important.”

Victoria University will continue to pull together its findings, which will be drafted for comment by ICCA in November. The study’s findings will be published at a later date.