BECA News
Articles of industry interest
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$2m for biz events data
The Federal Government has today confirmed a $2 million allocation to measure the impact and benefit of business events. The project is being rolled out in two phases, with the Government working closely with BECA to roll out “bespoke data collection points including venues, organisers, delegates and exhibitors” across the country.
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BECA announces review to lead the industry into the future
Australia’s peak industry body uniting various business events industry segments, the Business Events Council of Australia (BECA), is leading a review to explore the opportunity to create a larger, more impactful, and sustainable organisation to better represent the interests of the business events industry.
Business events are highly valuable to the Australian economy, providing $36 billion in economic contribution in FY19, and supporting the visitor and knowledge economies. Business events showcase Australia’s strengths on a global stage and support valuable trade and investment opportunities.
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Business Events industry congratulates Minister Farrell
BECA congratulates and welcomes new Minister for Trade and Tourism, Senator the Hon Don Farrell.
Minister Farrell proactively maintained close engagement with the business events industry via BECA while in opposition and is acutely aware of the devastation that COVID-19 restrictions placed on both international and domestic markets and the businesses that support the sector.
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New PM demonstrates the importance of Business Events on Day 1
BECA congratulates the new Prime Minister of Australia, the Hon Anthony Albanese MP, and his team on their election victory over the weekend. BECA looks forward to working with the new Labor government on business events industry recovery and growth over the next term.
BECA Chair, Dr Leo Jago OAM, stated, “It is great to see Prime Minister Albanese demonstrate the importance of business events on day one by not only travelling to participate in the QUADleaders’ strategic security meeting in Tokyo, but also reconfirming his election commitment to deliver an employment summit – bringing together unions and employer groups to resolve wages and productivity challenges.
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On the eve of the federal election, neither party is lighting things up for business events
It’s six of one and half a dozen of the other as far as policy promises supporting business events go for this federal election, with the nation heading to the polls tomorrow.
As the chair of the Business Events Council of Australia (BECA) Leo Jago points out, with the election campaign dominated by national security and cost of living pressures, “no one else is getting a look-in”.
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Investment in Business Events Bid Fund underpins international recovery
BECA welcomes yesterday’s announcement by the Morrison Government to extend Tourism Australia’s highly successful bid fund program by AU$5 million as part of an AU$60 million package to bring back international visitors.
Attending a business events leaders’ breakfast in Melbourne yesterday, hosted by the Association of Australian Convention Bureaux, the Hon Dan Tehan MP, Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment, positioned the business events industry as the cornerstone in the recovery of the visitor economy and fundamental to promoting Australia's credentials on the world stage. Business events will take over from China as the largest tourism market for Australia he said.
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BECA Appoints New Independent Chair
BECA is excited to announce the appointment of Dr Leo Jago OAM as the new Independent Chair of the peak industry body.
Dr Jago has a strong research background in business events and the visitor economy. He is widely recognised for his leadership in the inaugural landmark National Business Events Study as Deputy CEO and Director for Research of the Cooperative Research Centre for Sustainable Tourism. He also helped establish the UNWTO guidelines for assessing the economic impact of business events and was heavily involved in the early work to identify the ‘beyond tourism’ value of business events.
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The Visitor Economy: more than visitor spend and jobs
In response to the Government’s draft long-term tourism strategy to 2030, the Business Events Council of Australia (BECA) pitched the case that the visitor economy must be valued and recognised for its contribution beyond visitor spend and jobs.
THRIVE 2030 (The Re-Imagined Visitor Economy) was released by the Hon Dan Tehan, Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment, for consultation in late November as a proposed strategy to rebuild Australia’s visitor economy. BECA welcomed this opportunity to re-emphasise the importance of the business events industry as a key driver of the visitor economy and its needs for recovery and rebound.
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BECA delivers message of continued pain and uncertainty
This week, representatives of BECA including Deputy Chair Geoff Donaghy (ICC Sydney), Kate Smith (Waldron Smith Management), Matt Pearce (Talk2 Media & Events) and Andrew Hiebl (Association of Australian Convention Bureaux), met online with Senator the Hon Don Farrell, Shadow Minister for Sport and Tourism, and the Hon Tony Burke MP, Shadow Minister for the Arts.
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Commonwealth turns it’s back on Business Events
BECA is deeply concerned and disappointed with the Federal Treasurer’s announcement yesterday to withdraw COVID-19 Disaster Payments in line with vaccination targets being reached by states and territories, without any indication of a targeted replacement lifeline.
This decision does not consider the nature of the business events industry and the restrictions we are still facing, even when states come out of lockdowns.
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BECA appeals Federal Government with urgent priorities
Yesterday, representatives of BECA met online with the Hon Dan Tehan MP, Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment to plead for targeted support for businesses reliant upon income from business events.
BECA Deputy Chair, Geoff Donaghy stated that, “Survival of the complete tourism and events supply chain is our number one priority, along with maintaining their skilled workforce. If we are to be match fit for domestic recovery and deliver global best practice to our international clients for which we are recognised when the border reopens, retaining our people is essential.”
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Giving Business Events a Shot
BECA is supporting the call for the industry and broader community to get vaccinated as quickly as they are able, to support the first stage of the Government’s 4-step national plan and #GiveBEaShot.
On Friday, 30 July, National Cabinet agreed in principle to transition Australia’s National COVID-19 Response, providing a pathway forward for the country. Each phase of the plan is triggered by vaccination thresholds and aims to remove restrictions, end lockdowns and domestic border closures, and recommence international travel – all of which are necessary for the business events industry to recover and prosper into the future.
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Leadership unites for the future of Australia’s business events
The business events industry’s leadership convened at ICC Sydney earlier this month to prepare for the future of business events in Australia.
The Business Events Industry Roundtable was jointly hosted by the Business Events Council of Australia (BECA) and Tourism Australia. The workshop focused on building an understanding of the immediate objectives for the sector as well as obtaining business events industry insights to inform the Reimaging the Visitor Economy strategy for Tourism 2030.
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Industry advocate, BECA Chair steps down
BECA has announced that Independent Chair of the peak industry body, Dr Vanessa Findlay, has stepped down from the role after leading the business events industry’s advocacy and federal government lobbying efforts throughout the turbulent period of the COVID-19 pandemic.
On completing her tenure as Chair, Dr Findlay said, "the business events industry makes an incredibly valuable contribution to the Australian economy. It delivers more than 440,000 business events annually, making a direct contribution to the economy of $36b and supporting 230,000 jobs but its impact extends far beyond this to the facilitation of the knowledge economy."
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BECA and Get Local unite for the future of business events
BECA and Get Local unite. Dr Vanessa Findlay, BECA Chair announced today that BECA will have a strong presence at the event supporting all industry to rebuild and reignite business events.
Dr Findlay said “Get Local is a great example of the initiative needed to get the business events industry back on track. Show founders Donna Kessler and Gary Bender should be commended for pivoting their Get Global event to cater for the needs of the local domestic industry.”
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