The Business Events Reference Group today welcomed the announcement by the Victorian Government of its roadmap to recovery for the state’s $13 billion business events sector.

After nearly two years of Covid-hibernation, the announcement today gives this critical sector in the state’s visitor economy the confidence it needs to plan for 2022 and beyond.

The Business Events Reference Group was formed in early 2021 with senior representation from the Exhibitions and Events Association of Australasia (EEAA), Meetings and Events Australia (MEA), and the Victoria Tourism Industry Council (VTIC) as the peak industry bodies advocating for the business events sector in Victoria, including event organisers, venues and suppliers.

This group has worked closely with Government over many months to prosecute the key issues and challenges facing the sector, and to posit change that could accelerate the industry’s recovery. The last 19 months of shutdown has seen the business events industry decimated in our state. The events industry has been one of the first to be impacted, the hardest hit, and clearly one of the last to re-emerge given the lead-time between booking and the actual events.

In anticipation of the final detail, we are thrilled that the Victorian Government has responded so emphatically to the positions put forward by this Group, enabling us to bring people back together
to do business, make valuable connections, share knowledge, and build relationships.

Importantly we’ve illustrated to Government that we can do so safely and effectively, which has helped to lead us to the outcomes announced today.

The updated roadmap allows event organisers of all sizes to now plan confidently for reactivating their events, carving a pathway to recovery.

The industry has suffered a significant loss of intellectual capital and we can now finally start to rebuild our workforce and provide critical surety for the many event professionals that make up our industry.

The Business Events Reference Group sees today as the moment when we can finally get back to work, doing what we love, and reinforcing our position as the events capital of Australia.

The Victorian Business Events Reference Group:

ANNE JAMIESON, CEO, Saxton
FELICIA MARIANI, CEO, VTIC
GAB ROBINSON, CEO, Harry the Hirer
KATE SMITH, Managing Director, Waldron Smith Management
MATT PEARCE, CEO, Talk2Media and Events
PETER JONES, Managing Director, Peter Jones Special Events