C O V I D - 1 9 S U R V I V A L G U I D E
BUSINESS EVENTS TASMANIA Marnie Craig CEO
A s we have seen restrictions continue to tighten and additional measures put in place to fight COVID-19, we have also seen the devastating effects that it is having on our tourism and hospitality industry and our member businesses. There is no denying that this is a distressing time for so many businesses, including those that operate predominantly or solely within the conferencing and business events space. I realise that many of you have had no choice but to stand down staff, and I sincerely hope that the Government assistance available will help to keep your business viable and allow for a quicker return to business when the current hibernation phase ends. As an industry, if we can hold on, we can then get back to doing what we do best and that’s promoting and facilitating conferences, corporate and incentive travel and business events. At Business Events Tasmania (BET), we’re focussing on making sure that we have business events coming to Tasmania after this hibernation period ends. Our staff are working to ensure that we accurately capture every piece of business that has been either cancelled or postponed. Right now, we are of course seeing activity paused, approximately 90% of the business events that were due to take place in Tasmania over the next six months have been postponed but not cancelled. For the recovery of our industry, this is a very important differentiating factor. BET works almost entirely in the domestic market and this market will be the first to return in the business event sector when we see current restrictions ease. Looking further forward, in 2021, we already have 49 conferences and business events confirmed, worth over $35 million in direct expenditure – we expect to see this number increase substantially. The delegates attending conferences and business events are particularly valuable to the Tasmanian economy. Business events travellers are high yielding, spending approximately twice as much as a leisure visitor.
On average, they extend their stay for 3.1 days and 25% of delegates bring at least one additional visitor with them. In preparation, BET staff are rethinking and planning future marketing and communications campaigns and working on improving existing digital platforms to be ready for the important role BET can play in the recovery phase. We want you there with us when that time comes. Please be assured that your local tourism bodies are working together with your best interests, and the future of our tourism industry, at the forefront of our minds. Please do contact me if I can provide support, or if you have any questions or concerns that BET can assist with – I am only a phone call or email away. mcraig@betasmania.com.au
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