June 2, 2022 | By Bronwen Largier
The Business Events Council of Australia (BECA) and the Australian Tourism Industry Council (ATIC) have both welcomed Senator Don Farrell as the Minister for Trade and Tourism in Anthony Albanese’s newly formed Labor government.
“We congratulate Don Farrell on being sworn in as Minister for Trade and Tourism,” said BECA Chair Dr Leo Jago.
“This is an incredibly important position within Cabinet that can directly support the short-term recovery of the visitor economy and drive long-term growth.
“Through continued alignment with the trade portfolio, there is significant opportunity for Minister Farrell to leverage business events for their strategic role in attracting trade and investment and to draw upon their potential to support knowledge creation, foster innovation and boost productivity,” said Jago.
“We thank Minister Farrell for his interest in business events from opposition – in particular, scrutinising the Business Events Grant Program implemented by the Morrison Government – and look forward to a close and collaborative relationship under the new Albanese Government.”
During last month’s election campaign, a statement from Farrell pledged to continue support for the Business Events Bid Fund managed by Tourism Australia, which offers financial incentives to international organisers to bring their events to Australia, and to implement better data capture for business events visitors. Both of these initiatives were also supported by the Coalition.
On the eve of the election, Jago told micenet making sure the next government delivered on the data promise would be a focus for BECA going forward.
“It’s very well to give indicative support – we’ll be pushing very hard after the election with whoever’s in power to make sure that’s operationalised,” he said at the time.
Meanwhile ATIC flagged Farrell’s election promise of a $48 million tourism recovery package as a priority.
“The Australian Tourism Industry Council has worked closely with Senator Farrell as opposition tourism spokesperson and look forward to working with the new minister to deliver the government’s $48 million tourism package,” said ATIC chair Evan Hall.
“ATIC will work with the new government to assist small and regional tourism businesses to develop high quality tourism product and to recover from the impacts of COVID.”