Australia’s business events industry faces ‘ruin’ without JobKeeper extension, says BECA

Dr Vanessa Findlay, Chair of the Business Events Council of Australia (BECA) has said that, without an extension of the government’s JobKeeper arrangement, the sector faces “financial ruin”. BECA estimates the total lost value for the country’s business events industry over the next 12 months at $35.7bn, with staffing losses across the industry estimated at over 92,000 by the end of June 2020. The situation, said Findlay was “dire” for an industry that had been growing annually at a rate of more than 6%. Beyond September, BECA says the business events industry will not be in full recovery mode given the long lead times to plan and promote events and for revenue to start flowing again. The association adds that, across the business events industry, the necessary cancellation of events has seen a near 100% loss of revenue. Until new business events are being planned, booked and providing cashflow to businesses, the industry is largely unable to maintain its large workforce when unsupported. Findlay adds: “Without government support the business events industry is not just facing a hiatus; it is facing a total dislocation and complete loss. We would be facing a total rebuild of an industry from the ground up. We are uncertain whether we will ever get back to being able to compete globally if this situation transpires”. BECA has called for targeted government support for the business events workforce and businesses. Close engagement with the Australian Government and a coordinated effort across industry stakeholders is essential, it says, to ensure the support targets those areas most critical to the industry’s immediate needs, its recovery and its successful rebound. BECA adds that 96% of business events scheduled for 2020 in Australia have been cancelled or postponed and major international events due to be held in Australia in 2021 are increasingly in doubt. The association has produced a Business Events Recovery and Rebound Framework which identifies key challenges facing the industry and gaps that are not alleviated or solved by the government’s existing stimulus and support measures. It has also been designed with the belief that although the market for business events will be forever changed, the new world of business events will see a surge in demand driven by a renewed premium on in-person contact for governments, businesses and associations. “As an industry, we want to emerge from the crisis in a position to help build business confidence across the Australian economy and, when the time is right, grow Australia’s share of global events in what will be a highly competitive and disrupted market,” Findlay says. The overarching principle of the business events industry’s Recovery and Rebound Framework is to support the wellbeing of the workforce and businesses through the crisis, and to emerge together, ready to take on the new world of business events. The recovery phase of the framework meets the short- and medium-term needs of the industry with a focus on the domestic situation and market. The rebound phase follows with a medium to long term focus on regional and global markets to position the industry to take advantage of new regional and global market opportunities.