Last Friday Minister for Trade and Investment Andrew Robb announced a new initiative to attract more international business events to Australian shores.
Under the new framework, Australian Convention Bureaux (ACB) will serve as the first point of contact for event organisers – and the broader business events sector – who are seeking Austrade and Tourism Australia support.
Austrade will coordinate ministerial support for an event and will organise onshore and offshore promotion, while Tourism Australia will partner with industry to provide marketing and promotional materials.
Robb said, “This new framework demonstrates the common sense approach this Government has taken to the tourism portfolio, by moving it under the trade umbrella; allowing closer alignment between the work done by Austrade – our export promotion agency – and Tourism Australia.
“The high-yield economic benefits of hosting business events – not just for the tourism sector but for the wider community – are key contributors to the Government’s economic diplomacy agenda, and are highly effective vehicles for driving industry growth, which is in keeping with the Government’s trade and investment priority areas,” said Robb.
With the tourism sector already worth more than $13 billion a year, Robb said this new initiative will make a significant contribution to the Tourism 2020 goal, of increasing overnight visitor expenditure to between $115 billion and $140 billion by the year 2020.
