The Festival of Aviation and Corporate Travel Summits—better known as FACTS Summit & Expo—is now less than one week away from kicking off its second edition. The year-over-year momentum can’t be overlooked: After outgrowing last year’s hotel venue, the event is stepping up and into ICC Sydney for its 2025 edition, running Nov. 25–26.
It’s going to span roughly 27,000 square feet of the convention center—a four-fold increase over 2024’s fooprint—bringing together professionals from corporate travel, business events, travel payments and aviation. FACTS 2025 is expecting approximately 1,300 attendees, according to FACTS CEO Derek Sadubin, marking a 300% increase from the inaugural event.
Sadubin claims that the diverse makeup of attendees is what sets FACTS apart, calling it Australia’s largest business travel and event’s summit. “[It’s] a combination that’s never been attempted before in Australia—but has so many intersecting interests and strategic challenges,” he told Vendelux.
Exhibitor participation has grown just as quickly. This year’s expo floor will feature 105 exhibitors, including American Express, Amazon Web Services, Delta Air Lines, Four Seasons Hotel Sydney, Singapore Airlines and Uber for Business. The figure also represents a three-fold year-over-year increase.
The expanded scale isn’t just physical. Sadubin shared that the “core travel buyer audience last year gave us very clear guidance that they wished to see more educational content” spanning “the fast-growing business events sector, (…) the latest aviation updates [and] travel payment and expense management, with fast-changing AI and technological advancement.”
The feedback—and three different advisory boards—informed the 2025 event’s programming, which will continue offering established “streams” on corporate travel and aviation while adding new ones dedicated to business events, travel payments and SMEs (small- and medium-sized enterprises). More than 200 speakers will take the stage, including chief executives from Qantas International and Freight, AirAsia Group and Western Sydney Airport. For reference, FACTS 2024’s agenda had only 70 speakers.
The number of stages has also been doubled from three to six.
While FACTS 2025 won’t adopt a unifying theme, Sadubin anticipates “change in 2026” to emerge as the unofficial motif. “Rapid change in travel program management will be talked about a lot,” he predicted, “from managing risk, to environmental sustainability, agentic AI adoption and changes in deal models.”
One session Sadubin expects to be a standout is “the closing debate on what the world will be like in 2035 from the perspective of 10 industry leaders.” Each participant will bring a distinct point of view. “The Sustainability Champion,” for instance, is Earthcheck Founder and CEO Stewart Moore, while “The Online Travel Guru” is Webjet Group CEO and Managing Director Katrina Barry. The 75-minute debate will be moderated by Greener Airlines Chairman Peter Harbison.
On a more personal note, Sadubin said: “I’m keen to see the interface between procurement and events playing out on the stages at FACTS. Hard dollars—procurement—meets emotional engagement—business events. That’ll be one to watch!”
Beyond content, FACTS is hosting one official networking reception at the close of day one. But, as Sadubin noted, he is “aware of dozens of satellite events and client-customer gatherings happening during the week that FACTS is on in Sydney,” including sightseeing tours for international buyer guests.
Registration for FACTS 2025 is still open and priced at $395, with the option to add a 12-month GBTA (Global Business Travel Association) membership for $240.
In all, “an industry that meets together gets stronger together,” Saadubin concluded, adding that he hopes attendees will leave with “a sense that they belong to a great tribe.”
