To date the Bid Fund Program, administered by Tourism Australia’s specialist unit, Business Events Australia, has helped secure 164 international events for Australia, with event dates now out to 2029.
To be eligible for subvention funding, association conferences must have at least 400 international delegates expected, while incentives must have an overseas cohort of at least 700 delegates or an economic value of $3 million or over.
Tourism Australia’s managing director, Phillipa Harrison, said the Bid Fund “played a crucial role” in helping Australia secure international conferences and incentives.
“It is a competitive industry with destinations around the world vying for lucrative events and the Bid Fund offers vital support at the critical bidding stage,” she said.
Announcing the Bid Fund milestone at AIME’s opening press conference this morning, Harrison also pointed out that many of the conferences which have benefited from the fund are in industries that align with the federal government’s priority knowledge sectors for Australia – from health to technology, manufacturing, resources and energy, agribusiness, defence and space.
Subvention supported bid wins include the International Astronautical Congress 2025, set to be held in Sydney in September this year for an expected 2,500 international delegates, with an projected economic impact of $20 million for Australia and the 17th International Family Nursing Conference in Perth this June, with 400 international delegaets and an impact of $3.5 million.
Also supported by the fund are the Miniaturized Systems for Chemistry and Life Sciences (MicroTAS) meeting in November 2025 in Adelaide with 950 international delegates, generating an anticipated economic impact of $6 million and the World Congress of Paediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition in Brisbane in June 2028, with an expected 2,000 international delegates and an impact of $6 million.
Incentive wins benefiting from subvention include the Amway China incentive coming to Melbourne this April, which may become Australia’s largest international incentive group to date, with between 10,000 and 15,000 delegates expected, and, also in April this year, the Amway Thailand incentive for 2,000 delegates travelling to the Gold Coast.
The Amway China event in Melbourne has an expected economic value of $30 million on its own.
Melbourne’s other big subvention-supported money-spinner coming up is the Women Deliver conference in 2026, which is expected to have an economic impact of $31 million.
The return of international business events to Australia following the pandemic has not yet fully recovered, with delegate figures sitting at around 76 per cent compared to 2019, while spend is faring better, at about 94 per cent of 2019 levels or $4.3 billion.
