Industry poised to outshine 2020 targets

Industry poised to outshine 2020 targets
By admin


Australia's business events industry is on track to achieving its 2020 targets, with new figures confirming the industry's economic value has jumped more than 50% in the past three years.

Speaking at the annual Tourism Australia industry briefing in Sydney yesterday, Business Events Sydney (BESydney) chief executive Lyn Lewis-Smith revealed new figures which confirmed the industry delivered $12.5 billion to the economy in 2011.

Up from $7.9 billion in 2009, she said the industry was "well on its way" to achieving its industry target of $16 bn by 2020.

Business Events Australia general manager Penny Lion described the $12.5bn figure as an "outstanding" acheivement, adding that the industry was likely to exceed its targets.

Noting that the industry had faced a "challenging few years", she said arrivals were now showing growth.

"It's rewarding to see that arrivals stats are up… The business events industry is doing really well," she said.

While Asia was continuing to lead the charge in business events with a 27% increase in the past 12 months, Lion stressed that traditional markets would continue to deliver in the coming years.

"The UK is up 27% as far as numbers go, there's positive movement ouf ot the US and New Zealand is doing really well," she said. 

Lion also pointed to "tremendous numbers" coming out of the India market, but stressed there was still "a lot of work to do" to tap into the market's full potential.

"India is a really important market for us. The interest is there, but the numbers are low," she said. 

Lion also identified South East Asia as a prime focus over the next eight years as arrivals from Malaysia and Singapore continue to see growth, insisting that it would be a key market to hit the 2020 targets.

Email the Travel Weekly team at traveldesk@travelweekly.com.au

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