Australian CVBs look to strong pipeline for future events to aid recovery

According to recent forward calendar reports, Association of Australian Convention Bureaux (AACB) members have strong bids for business events in the future. Before the effects of bushfires and the Covid-19 pandemic, AACB members had secured 368 international business events for Australia. The events were expected to attract around 400,000 delegates who would contribute AUS$1.2bn (US$774m) to the economy over the next seven years. A further 270 planned international bids could bring an additional AUS$700m (US$450m) in delegate spend. For 2020, convention bureau success was set to see 145,000 delegates travelling to Australia for 183 international business events, which would have an estimated contribution of over AUS$420m (US$271m) to the visitor economy. Similarly, convention bureaux secured almost 400 domestic business events for the year, with an expected attendance of 170,000 delegates. Business events will have a positive impact via driving jobs across the tourism and events supply chain, and thus will aid in the recovery of key industries beyond the visitor economy including health care, social assistance, scientific and technical services as these industries account for 55% of scheduled international events and over 45% of planned international events. As social distancing measures are relaxed, delegate health will become the focus of events, requiring all industries to adapt to new measures as face-to-face collaboration and trade activity are reintroduced. AACB CEO, Andrew Hiebl said: “Business events provide economic prosperity for Australia and are the best platform for businesses and service providers to come together to support their recovery on the other side of this pandemic. “AACB acknowledges that the recovery will be staged but as restrictions are lifted there is a long pipeline of meetings and events from 2021 onwards that members have secured and will continue to work on both domestically and internationally.” The latest research commissioned by the Business Events Council of Australia (BECA) shows that business events directly contribute AUS$35.7bn (US$23bn) to the Australian economy and employ 229,000 people. To sustain and grow the business events industry during the Covid-19 pandemic, the AACB is supporting a BECA-led and coordinated approach, engaging with government to develop a Covid-19 Business Events Response and Recovery Framework.