New campaign to boost business events across Australia

First launched in the wake of the 2019/20 summer bushfires, the dedicated recovery campaign seeks to drive increased demand across the sector by promoting the value of face-to-face events and showcasing the breadth and quality of Australia’s business events offering.

Australia’s business events industry has been hit hard by the impacts of COVID-19, with 96 per cent of business events scheduled for 2020 having been cancelled or postponed due to the pandemic (Source: Business Events Council of Australia, April 2020).

Tourism Australia Managing Director Phillipa Harrison said with some restrictions easing across the country, now is the perfect time to launch this latest marketing push.

“There’s no doubt that Australia’s business events industry has been hit hard by the COVID-19 crisis,” Ms Harrison said.

“This critical part of our visitor economy directly contributed $35.7 billion last financial year and provided employment to 229,000 people across the country, so it is important that we continue to provide support to this valuable sector.

“With international borders likely to remain closed for the foreseeable future, the recovery of Australia's business events industry will undoubtedly be driven by Australian businesses and associations choosing to hold events here.

“We want event planners and key decision makers to have confidence to plan and book an event in Australia this year. Boosting spending in cities and regional communities through events will help kickstart a positive economic cycle by offsetting the losses suffered by many businesses during the pandemic.

“Our aim is to not only boost demand across the sector but also address some of the local knowledge gaps about Australia’s business events offering among event planners, national associations and corporate decision makers, by shining a spotlight on our incredible destinations, products and experiences.”

Led by Tourism Australia’s specialist Business Event’s unit, Business Events Australia (BEA), the Event Here This Year campaign is supported by BEA’s domestic partnership program, the Business Events Boost Program, which provides funding for industry-led marketing and distribution projects to encourage business events activity in Australia.

The campaign is set to roll out over six months across traditional media, out of home advertising, digital and social media channels and is supported by ongoing content and PR activity.

As part of the nation-wide initiative, Tourism Australia is also encouraging the industry adopt the campaign and messaging across their own marketing activities, with an Event Here This Year campaign toolkit available to download via the Business Events Australia website.