July 18, 2022 | By Bronwen Largier
With multiple convention centres reporting a return to pre-pandemic levels of activity in May, data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics shows that international business events visitors are still significantly down.
International visitor arriving in Australia for conferences in May 2022 were almost three times the previous month, but they’re still less than a third of what they were pre-pandemic, for the same month in 2019.
Given Brisbane Convention & Exhibition Centre recorded pre-pandemic levels of business in May, ICC Sydney reported the same for the March to May period and Melbourne Convention and Exhibition said May 2022 was one of their busiest months on record, as the business events industry’s recovery continues, if our marketing to international delegates is on point, we have a further boost coming our way.
And the best part is, the boost will come from the highest value business events attendee – those who have travelled the furthest, who stay in hotels, who spend the most and who are more likely to stay longer in the conference destination, as they’ve travelled further than local or interstate delegates. They’re a dream to national and state tourism organisations and convention bureaux as they contribute to all stakeholders in the visitor economy supply chain.