Trends in business events and what they mean for your local visitor economy
Business events provide the highest yield of any tourism segment and are estimated to generate up to six times the average expenditure of leisure travel visitors.
Deloitte Access Economics describes business events as “a high-value, fast-growing component of the visitor economy”.
One in five dollars spent by international visitors in Australia is spent by an international delegate attending a business event.
International delegates spend 21% more than other international visitors over the course of their trip and 77% more per day.
Business events also amplify economic activity well beyond directly measurable metrics, strengthening knowledge creation and exchange, innovation, investment and other positive impacts.
Business events are strategic tools for attracting trade, investment and global talent. Governments are investing in the business events sector because they recognise both their short-term and the long-term benefits, according to the Association of Australian Convention Bureaux's International Business Events Forward Calendar.
For example, the Northern Territory has a tourism support plan where NT business events planners or organisations that stage a business event can apply for financial help of $100 per delegate, up to a maximum of $50,000 per event from the Business Events Support Fund. This means the NT will be able to compete with their international neighbours for major business and conference events. Read more
Business Events Sunshine Coast and Sunshine Coast Council offer a Business Events Assistance Program to attract conferences, meetings and exhibitions which raises the profile of the region as a destination for business events and attracts national and international business events which align with the Regional Economic Development Strategy and its high-value industries.
Regional destinations offer a point of difference for event organisers who are tired of the same experiences in capital cities.
The NSW state government has a NSW Regional Conferencing Strategy and Action Plan and a Regional Conferencing Unit within Destination NSW. Their Regional Conferencing Unit supports regional NSW in targeting opportunities, identifying capability and undertaking promotional activities to grow business events. NSW Government funding will support the program, assisted by co-operative investment from industry. Read the NSW regional conference strategy
What is the effect of business visitors on your regional visitor economy?
Is your destination management organisation ignoring business visitors in their focus on leisure visitors?
Learn more about the special relationship between tourism and events.
Join me in March 2020 at the The Business of Events conference, the only conference in Australia focusing on the strategic planning and commercial side of events, where I will be presenting on integrating events into a destination marketing plan.