BUSINESS EVENTS TAS
Business Events Tas Marnie Graig
The collective sigh of relief across the state when Tasmania’s borders finally reopened in mid-December last year was audible, after an extremely challenging 2021 compounding the impacts of 2020 for our tourism and hospitality industry. Although the pandemic adage of “we are in the same storm, but not in the same boat” continues to ring true, and as a sector we navigate emerging challenges posed by the Omicron strain daily, it has been heartening to hear positive stories coming out of this summer for some Tasmanian operators. The Business Events Tasmania team was thrilled to hold our first famil of the year in the first week of February. This was the second in a series of famils we planned to host across 2021 and 2022, with activity planned for the latter half of 2021 postponed due to ongoing Covid outbreaks in NSW and Victoria. Pleasingly we were able to showcase Launceston, Hobart and the beautiful East Coast region to a number of attendees from NSW, VIC, ACT, QLD and SA on this second famil. Guests predominantly representing the lucrative corporate and incentive market were treated to a three-day program of site visits, hosted by the BET team showing off Tassie icons as well as some of our newer product, much of which remains unseen by interstate event planners due to Covid disruption. Collaborating with our tourism and hospitality colleagues, the itinerary included an exciting range of curated experiences designed to highlight Tasmania’s ancient culture, history and heritage, local produce, wine and spirits, natural assets and arts, and most importantly, inspire our guests. We know that famils are the most effective way to convert business for our segment of the visitor economy, and to date we have over $27million worth of business in the pipeline representing almost 10,000 attendees and over 31,000 bed nights, directly derived from our two famils alone.
Our sales team anticipates that this figure will continue to climb well in excess of $30 million, as further business is confirmed following the February family and market activity increases as the Covid situation settles across the country. Just like many of our members and operators working at the coal face of industry, it was great to get back to doing what we do best and what we love in showing off our great state to attract new events to Tasmania. With further famil activity planned throughout 2022 we know our pipeline will continue to grow, both in the short term and pushing all the way out to 2025, all contributing to the growth of our industry as we all work together in our recovery after some very tough times. This project received grant funding from the Australian Government under the Recovery for Regional Tourism program, an initiative of the $1 billion COVID-19 Relief and Recovery Fund
Photo Credit: Loic Le Guilly
Hospitality Review: February 2022 39
Photo Credit: Loic Le Guilly
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