Brisbane Business Tips

(Brisbane, Queensland - QLD, Australia)

Brisbane's impressive Central Business District (CBD) is dominated by the historic Brisbane City Hall and features many breathtaking skyscrapers, office blocks and modern buildings, with magnificent architecture. One of Australia's prominent financial, commercial and industrial cities, Brisbane is home to many major corporations, international companies and entertainment complexes, including the enormous Conrad Treasury Casino, which is situated next to the Brisbane River in the Central Business District (CBD).

Brisbane's financial centre is home to a pleasant mix of old buildings, such as Parliament House and the Observatory, and striking, contemporary architecture. As the evening approaches and many of the offices close in Brisbane's Central Business District (CBD), the nightlife begins and wine bars soon start to fill up, transforming the financial area into one of most lively nightspots in the whole of Brisbane.


Home to an excellent travel network, including harbours and Brisbane Airport (BNE) - one of the largest airports in this area of Australia, Brisbane is also an important transport hub, with good connections to Queensland, which contributes greatly to its wealth and popularity. Brisbane has many world-class business facilities, meeting rooms and good conference facilities throughout central Brisbane, including state-of-the art video communication technology.

A combination of tourism and leisure, retail and shopping, hospitality and the expanding campus of Brisbane University, all play an important part in Brisbane's thriving economy. As a result, the diverse city of Brisbane has an exceptional range of world-class shopping centres, restaurants, street cafés, pubs, wine bars, museums and art galleries in and around central Brisbane, and also in Queensland's nearby Gold Coast.

There are numerous historic tourist attractions, heritage museums and magnificent monuments in Brisbane's Central Business District (CBD). The buoyant hotel industry in Brisbane also reflects the high number of tourists travelling to Brisbane and Brisbane city centre is full of hotels, guest houses and luxurious accommodation, often with wonderful views of the Brisbane River and Moreton Bay.

Business Hours and General Etiquette

Most offices and businesses in Brisbane and Queensland open on weekdays between 09:00 and 17:30, and many of the banks in Brisbane operate between 09:30 and 16:30 Monday to Thursday, remaining open until around 17:00 on Friday, or later. Brisbane's largest banking branches often have extended opening hours, usually from 08:00 to 18:00 during the week. There are countless ATM cashpoint machines situated throughout Brisbane city centre, which provide a useful and particularly convenient way to exchange currency. Shops, restaurants and hotels in Brisbane happily accept major credit cards, such as Visa, Mastercard and American Express.

Shops and shopping centres in the city of Brisbane generally open from around 08:00, or slightly later until 17:00 or 17:30 on weekdays, and most shops in Brisbane tend to extend their opening hours on Thursdays, staying open until as late as 21:00. Brisbane's shops usually open on Saturday and although some of Brisbane's shops close on Sunday, many shops do open in central Brisbane, particularly around Queen Street Mall, the centre of the shopping scene in Brisbane.

Working lunches are a successful way to do business in the city of Brisbane and locals in Brisbane are quick to use first-name terms when appropriate. Some of the more exclusive and luxurious restaurants in Brisbane operate a fairly strict dress code, although the majority of Brisbane's restaurants have a fairly informal atmosphere and relaxed dress code.

Currency

Currency in Brisbane and Australia as a whole is decimal, with the Australian dollar as the basic unit of currency. One Australian dollar has 100 cents and the notes come in $100, $50, $20, $10 and $5 denominations. Coins come in 5c, 10c, 20c, 50c, $1 and $2 amounts and transactions involving 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8 or 9 cents are either rounded up or down to the nearest multiple of 5 cents.

Greeting Someone

A brief handshake is the usual customary greeting in Brisbane, Queensland and generally throughout Australia. It is widely acceptable to address new acquaintances on first name terms in Brisbane and businessmen and women in the Brisbane area are usually very polite and friendly.

Smoking

Restaurants and cafés in Brisbane operate a very strict 'no smoking' policy and most of Brisbane's offices and businesses are now 'non-smoking'. Locals in Brisbane are often quite strongly opposed to smoking, so it is sensible to only smoke when in the company of like-minded people in Brisbane and it is often a good idea to check with those nearby before you actually start smoking.