Business event fund delivers multi-million dollar boost to economy

Australia continues to be a highly sought after destination for lucrative businesses events, with the Liberal-National Government's business events Bid Fund Program estimated to have already delivered a $187 million boost to the Australian economy.

Australia's position as a business events powerhouse comes as the Asia Pacific's leading trade forum for the meetings and event industry kicks-off in Melbourne today.

Minster for Trade, Tourism and Investment Simon Birmingham said the Bid Fund Program is providing a significant boost to Australia's lucrative business events industry by attracting significant international events to our shores.

"Our $12 million Bid Fund Program, launched last year, has helped ensure that Australia maintains a competitive edge against other international destinations by offering financial support to new international business events.

"The value of business events secured for Australia with the help of the Business Events Bid Fund is estimated to have a combined economic value of $187 million," Minister Birmingham said.

"This means that every dollar invested in securing events through the fund has generated an additional $19 for our country's economy.

"Business events are extremely valuable to our economy, with the average business events visitor spending at least twice as much as a leisure visitor.

"In what is an increasingly crowded international marketplace, the fund provides Australia with an important competitive advantage when bidding to secure high-value international business events.

"But the success of the fund is not only the result of the government's ongoing support, but of the hard work of the industry in securing these important events for Australia.

"Business events are one of the most significant sectors of our tourism industry, with spending by international business events visitors climbing 16 per cent to $4.9 billion in the last 12 months.

"Importantly, the impact of these events on the visitor economy is far reaching, with business events visitors more likely to extend their visit to regional parts of Australia and return for a holiday in the future.

So far, the Bid Fund Program has helped to convert fourteen business events. Those publicly announced include:

  • UITP 2021 Global Public Transport Summit, Melbourne (AUD $4.6 million in economic value)
  • 2019 SportAccord World Sport and Business Summit, Gold Coast (AUD $6.7 million in economic value)
  • 145th IATA Slot Conference, Brisbane 2019 (AUD $3.2 million in economic value)
  • 13th Congress of International Plant Molecular Biology 2021, Cairns (AUD $4.2 million in economic value)
  • Society for Freshwater Science Annual Meeting 2021, Brisbane (AUD $2 million in economic value)
  • IEEE Symposium Series on Computational Intelligence SSCI 2020, Canberra (AUD $2.2 million)

Nearly 80 applications have been received since the Program commenced in July 2018, with fourteen events having been successfully secured for Australia.

The funds specifically go towards the on-the-ground delivery of the event in Australia and submissions are assessed against criteria to ensure they deliver a significant impact on the industry and economy.

This means that every dollar spent supports local jobs through accommodation bookings, transport and venue hire, ultimately sending every dollar back into the Australian economy.

For more information on business events in Australia go to: www.businessevents.australia.com.

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