Business Events Bid Fund Program helps to secure nearly A$190 million worth of business events for Australia

The value of business events secured with the help of Tourism Australia’s Business Events Bid Fund (BFP) has almost doubled in the past three months to reach a new milestone of A$187 million (€118 million).

Tourism Australia Managing Director, John O’Sullivan said the results demonstrated the fund’s effectiveness in improving Australia’s competitiveness in the global business events market.

“In November 2018 we released the details of the multi-million dollar boost to Australia’s visitor economy delivered to date by the Business Events Bid Fund Program (BFP),” Mr O’Sullivan said.

“Today I am pleased to confirm that since that time, the total economic value of events secured by BFP has almost doubled, from A$97 million (€61 million) to reach A$187 million (€118 million).”

“This is a direct result of the combined efforts of the Australian business events industry in securing these events, with the support of funds through the BFP which came into effect in July last year.

“Significantly, the BFP provides critical support for industry at the all-important bidding stage, when the BFP can provide a real competitive edge for Australia by helping offset event costs here,” said Mr O’Sullivan.

The effectiveness of the BFP is also reflected in the number of applications received from the Australian business events industry, with applications now reaching 79 since the launch of the BFP. The majority of applications continue to be for international health and direct selling business events.

The latest BFP infographic, also released today, highlights the strong return on investment of the Program. On average, every dollar invested by Tourism Australia and industry in securing events through the Program has generated A$19 million (€12 million) for the Australian economy.

Fourteen events have been secured for Australia since the commencement of the BFP in July 2018, with six of the events publicly announced;

• UITP 2021 Global Public Transport Summit, Melbourne | A$4.6m (€2,9m) in economic value for Australia
• 2019 SportAccord World Sport and Business Summit, Gold Coast | A$6.7m (€4,2m) in economic value for Australia
• 145th IATA Slot Conference, Brisbane | over A$3.2m (€2m) in economic value for Australia
• 13th Congress of International Plant Molecular Biology 2021, Cairns | A$4.2m (€2,6m) in economic value for Australia
• Society for Freshwater Science Annual Meeting 2021, Brisbane | A$2m (€1,2m) in economic value for Australia
• IEEE Symposium Series on Computational Intelligence SSCI 2020, Canberra | A$2.2m (€1,4m) in economic value for Australia

Business events remains one of the most significant sectors of Australia’s visitor economy, and the sector is the second largest contributor to overnight international visitor expenditure after China. Total expenditure by international business events visitors in the year ending September 2018 was worth A$4.92 billion (€3,10 billion), an increase of 16 per cent on the previous year.

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