In late 2010, Tourism Australia released the ‘2020 Tourism Industry Potential’ that seeks to ensure that Australia’s tourism industry doubles its contribution to the Australian economy by 2020. Business Events Australia and the Business Events Council of Australia have fully endorsed this strategy and have joined forces to ensure that the contribution of the business events sector to the Australian economy continues
to increase.

BECA’s annual report provides a measurable assessment of the substantial contribution that business events make to Australia’s economy

In order to monitor the contribution the Business Events Council of Australia has commissioned Dr Leo Jago and Dr Margaret Deery to produce an annual report analysing the performance of business events.

The annual report provides a measurable assessment of the substantial contribution that business events make to Australia’s economy. It provides an overview of how Australia’s business events sector performed in 2010 and the factors that affected this performance. It is intended that this report be produced annually and a table containing Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) has been included to help compare performance over time.

KPI’s include Australia’s world ranking as a business events destination, convention arrival statistics, statistics on international and domestic business event travel and convention bureau statistics on business bids and wins and losses. These KPI’s cover all measurable aspects of the industry and by
tracking this and assessing progress on each we will be able to develop strategies to ensure delivery of the business events contribution to the 2020 targets.

In 2010 the report reveals that whilst Australia’s business events sector showed recovery in most areas during 2010, this recovery was not generally sufficient to get back to the pre-GFC levels. However Australia’s ICCA ranking as a destination for international associations meetings jumped from 16th to 11th. This was assisted greatly by the strong performance shown by Sydney.

The report also confirms that business event delegates both international and national spend almost six times more than the leisure traveler so the importance of the value of business events should not be underestimated. Also noted in the KPI’s is the federal funding provided for the industry which has decreased and does not equal the value contribution the industry provides back to the Australia economy.

To read the full report please visit www.businesseventscouncil.org.au