The Business Events Council of Australia (BECA) welcomes yesterday’s announcement by the Morrison Government to extend Tourism Australia’s highly successful bid fund program by AU$5 million as part of an AU$60 million package to bring back international visitors.

Attending a business events leaders’ breakfast in Melbourne yesterday, hosted by the Association of Australian Convention Bureaux, the Hon Dan Tehan MP, Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment, positioned the business events industry as the cornerstone in the recovery of the visitor economy and fundamental to promoting Australia’s credentials on the world stage. Business events will take over from China as the largest tourism market for Australia he said.

Dr Leo Jago OAM, Chair of BECA stated, “This investment is a critical step in Australia’s international recovery and adds much needed certainty to international interest in Australia. As we emerge from pandemic restrictions, global competition for consumers, talent, business, and investment has never been greater; and business events provide an ideal platform to promote Australia to the world.”

The Business Events Bid Fund program has already successfully supported bid wins for 57 events aligned with Australia’s trade and investment priorities. Through matched funding with states and territories, this extension will improve our success rate in bidding for conventions, incentives and exhibitions in some of the fastest growing global industries.

Before the pandemic, business events were valued at AU$36 billion, and employed in excess of 229,000 Australians.