Business Events Tasmania
Marnie Craig
The year ahead for conferences and business events in Tasmania
Our role at Business Events Tasmania (BET) is to attract national and international business events to Tasmania. The overall business events, conference and meeting market is worth approximately $150M annually to the Tasmanian economy, bringing on average 36,000 visitors to the state each year. Business events travellers, or delegates, are high yielding, spending on average twice as much as a leisure visitor, often extending their visit to Tasmania and returning for a holiday in the future; making them crucial to businesses operating in the tourism and hospitality sector, and the Tasmanian economy as a whole. Along with attracting the highest yielding spender in the visitor economy, business events provide intangible legacies including knowledge exchange, fostering innovation, business development and community development. In line with BET’s current strategic plan, our priorities and programs focus on growing delegate numbers at conferences in the important association market and positioning Tasmanian trade and investment opportunities on a national and global scale through BET’s Tasmanian Ambassador Program. Conferencing and business events activity in Tasmania in 2020 is looking very promising, with 86 events already confirmed. This number will increase as BET staff continue to work with professional conference organisers and event planners to secure Tasmania as host destination for their conference or event. BET has been working closely with national business event organisers to encourage the dispersal conference activity into regional Tasmania, with a particular focus on Launceston and the north and these efforts are showing positive results.
February to May 2020 will see strong conference activity into northern Tasmania with six significant events choosing Launceston as host destination for their business event, with total delegate numbers due to be around 1,250, and an estimated economic impact in excess of 2,500,000. These events, including the Endocrine Society of Australia Annual Seminar 2020 and the Australian Meals on Wheels National Conference 2020, will bring welcome visitation in the off-peak leisure tourism months. Recently conducted research indicates that on average, business event delegates are staying approximately 6.1 days in Tasmania, with many conferences, particularly in the agricultural sphere, hosting pre and post conference tours which is again increasing the length of stay of the delegate. Twenty five percent of delegates coming to Tasmania are bringing family or friends with them when they travel to Tasmania for a conference or business event, again increasing the positive impact to local Tasmanian tourism, hospitality and business event suppliers. With over 160 members, Business Events Tasmania takes a lead role in promoting Tasmania as a business event destination to national and international associations, corporate organisations and event planners. Our success is achieved by working collaboratively with members, key stakeholders and local partners to secure successful business events to Tasmania and to maximise delegate attendance at those events. If you’d like to know more about the business events market and how you can work with BET to secure business in this sector, please get in contact via mail@businesseventstasmania.com or 03 6231 1366. Marnie Craig CEO, Business Events Tasmania
February 2020 www.tha.asn.au
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