STATE OF THE BUSINESS EVENTS INDUSTRY REPORT

Transcription

1 2012 STATE OF THE BUSINESS EVENTS INDUSTRY REPORT Dr Marg Deery Tourism and Business Events International September 2013 Report Commissioned by The Business Events Council of Australia *Photos provided courtesy of the Association of Australia Convention Bureaux Inc.

2 Executive Summary The Australian Business Events industry has a number of strategic goals for the year 2020 and this report documents the progress that the industry has made towards achieving those goals. Specifically, the industry aims to attract $16 billion per year from overnight Business Events delegates by In 2012, overnight delegate expenditure is estimated to be $11.6 billion. Overall, the Australian Business Events industry has recovered from the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) and expenditure and visitation have returned to pre-gfc figures, although domestic overnight visitors and expenditure decreased by 2% over 2011 figures. With regard to international association events, Australia improved on its 16 th position in 2011 to 13 th position in The aim of this report is to provide an overview of the 2012 trends in business event activity and expenditure within worldwide, regional and local contexts. Global and Regional Context The key issues during 2012 focused around the crisis with the Euro, the US fiscal cliff and tax cuts, and China s spending on infrastructure and manufacturing. Global tourism receipts increased by 4% in 2012 over 2011 receipts., As Australia s tourism receipts showed little growth in 2012, Australia suffered a slight loss in world market share (-0.2%). International visitors to Australia increased in most of its key markets such as China, New Zealand and the US while visitor numbers from Singapore decreased. The Global Business Events Industry trends during 2012 in the global Business Events industry included: The number of meetings booked globally increased by 5% in 2012 over The UK and US showed moderate growth in activity, while countries such as the Netherlands (up 146%), Singapore (up 200%), Italy (up 130%) and Hong Kong (up 129%) showed the greatest increases in the number of meetings booked. Global trends in the meetings industry during 2012 focused on technology (overwhelming number of new products), demographics (difficulties in catering to the needs of different age cohorts) and risk management (short lead times, instability in company budgets). Australia s Business Events Industry key trends: The average daily spend of business event visitors in 2012 was $289, which was similar to the adjusted figure for Arrivals to Australia based on Overseas Arrivals and Departures (OAD) figures for the purposes of attending conferences and conventions during 2011 totalled 190,000 which was an 11% increase on the previous year. During 2012 there was an increase in the focus of developing more holistic measures to assess the true value of Business Events, both nationally and internationally saw a decrease in the deficit between inbound and outbound convention travel with a 10% increase in arrivals and a 3% decrease in departures. New Zealand remained Australia s major source market for conference visitors showing an increase of 2.5% from China, US and Japan all increased in relation to convention visitor numbers to Australia, while convention visitors from Singapore decreased. Australia s market share of international association meetings increased with a ranking of 13t h in 2012 compared to 16 th in Incentive travel visitors in 2012 decreased by 23% over 2011, although trip nights increased by 6%. Total business meeting (rather than convention, exhibition or incentive) visitors increased by 5% with expenditure by these visitors increasing by 6% which was the largest expenditure increase of all Business Events categories. Exhibition visitor numbers and expenditure decreased in 2012 from 2011 figures by 13% and 28% respectively, while trip nights increased by 13%. In 2012, the tourism investment pipeline was valued at $44.1billion showing a 22% increase or $7.9 billion over 2011 investment. In 2012, the accommodation investment pipeline amounted to $5.6 billion providing an additional 9,760 rooms to supply. This is an increase of 1,589 rooms from Executive Summary

3 Key Performance Indicators for December 2011/ to December 2012 Key Performance Indicator (KPI) % Change* Australia s annual growth in participant numbers in the ICCA Report ABS Convention / Conference arrivals to Australia (based on main purpose of visit) 64,627 76,375 18% 171, ,500 11% Federal funding of Business Events (marketing only) $3.5 M p.a. through TA $5.05 p.a through TA 44% International business event visitors (IVS) 884K 919K 4% International business event visitor trip nights (IVS) 15,419K 18,286K 19% International business event visitor spend in Australia (IVS) $2,428M $2,729M 12% Domestic overnight business event visitors (NVS) 9,470K 9,326K -2% Domestic overnight business event visitor nights (NVS) 26,907K 26,309K -2% Domestic overnight business event visitor spend (NVS) $9,129K $8,917K -2% Domestic day business event visitors (NVS) 9,023K 9,765K 8% Domestic day business event visitor spend (NVS) $773M $892M 15% Total business event visitors 19,376K 20,010K 3% Total business event visitor nights 42,326K 44,595K 5% Total business event visitor spend in Australia $12,554M $12,871M 3% State government funding of convention bureaux M a 23.3M b 2% Local government funding of convention bureaux 2.5M a 2.5M b -0.8% Total cash provided to convention bureau by the private sector 9.3M a 10.7M b 15% Total number of members of convention bureau 1,912 a 1,890 b -1% Total number of convention bureau bids won 673 a 784 b 16% Total estimated delegate expenditure from bids won 590M a 620M b 5% Total number of convention bureau bids lost 412 a 520 b -26% Australia s rank in the list of Overall Country Brand 5 6 N/A Australia s rank in the Anholt-GFK Nation Brand 8 9 N/A Accredited meeting managers (MEA) % Note a: Refer to financial year Note b: Refer to financial year * percentage changes have been rounded 1 Information relating to convention bureau from: AACB Performance Report Executive Summary

4 TABLE OF CONTENTS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY INTRODUCTION GLOBAL OVERVIEW Global Economy and Tourism Global Meetings Industry Associations Exhibitions Incentives Corporate Meetings AUSTRALIAN OVERVIEW Economy Business Events Total Value of Business Events Tourism Measures of Business Events Performance SECTORAL ANALYSIS Conference/ Convention Arrivals Associations Incentives Business Meetings Exhibitions OTHER FACTORS Investment Accommodation Aviation CONCLUSION REFERENCES... 23

5 TABLE OF TABLES Table 1: Results from Tourism Research Australia s International Visitor Survey and National Visitor Survey: Business Events visitors, nights and spend... 9 Table 2: Key Performance Indicators for 2011/ Table 3: Top International Meeting Countries in Table 4: Top International Meeting Cities Table 6: Conference/convention/seminar visitors, nights and spend. YE Dec YE Table 7: Incentive visitors, nights and spend Table 8: Business Meetings visitors, nights and spend Table 10: Tourism Investment Pipeline

6 TABLE OF FIGURES Figure 7: The Value of Business Events... 7 Figure 8: ABS Convention Inbound and Outbound Visitors ( ) Figure 9: Number of convention or conference visitors to Australia by country of residence. Year ended 31 December 2012 compared to year ended December Figure 10: Conference/Convention Arrivals to Australia Monthly Comparisons Figure 11: ICCA: Movements in Worldwide Rankings, Australia (no. of meetings) Table 11: Key indicators for Australia s larger accommodation establishments Figure 12: Real Yields per Available Rooms Figure 13: Australia s international aviation sector, inbound seat capacity and passenger load factors... 21

7 State of the Australian Business Events Industry Report Calendar Year Introduction The purpose of this report is to provide an overview of how Australia s Business Events sector performed in 2012 and the factors that affected this performance. This is the third State of the Australian Business Events Industry Report; the first report was produced in 2010 and examined the performance of the sector in Business Events were estimated to have contributed $24 billion in 2012 and this is forecast to rise to $31 billion by According to the industry s stated goals (BEA, 2011), the sector aims to double the annual overnight expenditure by business event visitor delegates to $16.0 billion by Whilst overnight Business Events delegate expenditure only increased by about 1% in 2012 to $11.6 billion, it has increased by 32% since Total business event expenditure (including daytrips) increased by 2.5% in 2012 to $12.9 billion, which is 34% up on the 2009 figure. The Business Events sector appears to be on track to achieve its 2012 target Global Overview 2.1. Global Economy and Tourism The areas of global economic focus in 2012 were the European financial crisis and the US fiscal cliff and the consequences to the rest of the world from these events 4. Specifically, Advito s December 2012 update 5 argues that: The health of the global economy depends largely on U.S. Congress compromises over tax cuts, the euro zone avoiding breakup of the single currency, and China s recent progress on infrastructure spending and manufacturing improvements (p.1) With regard to the global economy and tourism, UNWTO data reports that receipts from international tourism increased by 4% in 2012 over 2011 receipts to reach US$1,075 billion. 6 Australia s receipts remained the same at US$31.5 billion in 2011 and 2012 and therefore showed a slight loss in world market share (-0.2%). The Americas experienced the largest increase in international tourism receipts (+7%) with Asia and the Pacific next (+6%), followed by Africa (+5%) and Europe (2%). Although receipts were down in the Middle East (-2%), this was mild compared to the decline experienced in According to the UNWTO, international tourism in 2012 accounted for 30% of the world s exports and 6% of all exports of goods and services. As an export category, tourism is fifth after fuels, chemicals, food and automotive products. It is ranked first in many developing countries. Finally, CIBTM reported that although the Asian economies continued to show much higher growth figures than elsewhere in the world - 8% in China and 6% in India, there were still economic challenges faced by these countries. 2 Tourism & Transport Forum (TTF). (2013) The Value of Business events: Measuring the Value of the Australian Business Events Sector, Tourism Research Australia (2013), Business Events YE Dec 2009 to YE Dec Grass Roots Meetings Industry Report Market Analysis & 2013 Forecast. 5 Advito 2013 Industry Forecast and December 2012 Update 6 UNWTO Press Release No , 15 May /international-tourism-receipts-grew CIBTM 2012, IBTM Global Meetings Industry Research 1 P age

8 In terms of top destinations, the rankings for inbound tourism remained almost unchanged from 2011 as shown in Figure 1. Figure 1: World and Regions: Inbound Tourism Top Ten Destinations Source: UNWTO Australia s tourism industry performed better over compared to with an increase of 1.2 % in international visitor arrivals reaching nearly 6 million. This modest increase was in line with a period of slow growth since 2000, during which time, a number of global economic events affected international visitor arrivals as shown in Figure 2. Figure 2: Long-term Growth in Australia s International Visitor Arrivals Source: Tourism Research Australia, State of the Industry 2012, p. 23 Much of the international visitor growth came from a 16.7% increase in Chinese visitors with an accompanying increase in expenditure, which was up 9.1% to $3.8 billion. New Zealand and the United States visitors also increased expenditure (up 3.8% and 7.5% respectively), but some traditional markets such as the United Kingdom declined in expenditure by 6.6%. 8 8 Tourism Research Australia, State of the Industry 2012, Canberra 2 P age

9 2.2. Global Meetings Industry A range of reports on the global meetings industry provides insights into the trends. One of these, which reports on the global meetings industry for 2012 and beyond is the IMEX 2012, The Power of 10 9 report. It examines the key trends over the last ten years as well as analysing the future impacts on, and progress of, the global meetings industry. The report argues there were three key factors that impacted on the global meeting industry over the last ten years, namely, (1) the economy (especially the Global Financial Crisis), (2) the internet (especially with regard to buyersupplier relationships and delegate engagement) and (3) delegate expectations, particularly with regard to the use of their time, the quality of the event, the content and return on investment. The 2013 Grass Roots Report 10 found that the decline in meetings and events budgets and delegate numbers in 2011 and previous years is reversing. The number of meetings booked globally increased by 5% in 2012 over The UK and US showed moderate growth in activity, while countries such as the Netherlands (up 146%), Singapore (up 200%), Italy (up 130%) and Hong Kong (up 129%) showed the greatest increases in the number of meetings booked (Figure 3). Figure 3: Average Number of Events per Annum 2012 v 2011 Source: Grass Roots Meetings Industry Report 2013, p. 6 In 2012, a number of trends emerged. MPI s Business Barometer , for example, found global trends in the meetings industry during 2012 to be focused on technology, demographics and risk management. The key issue with technology is the overwhelming number of new products and the difficulty that meetings professionals have in choosing the most appropriate one. This is due mainly to a lack of time and knowledge of the product. New challenges have emerged with regard to the demographic profiles of delegates; the MPI report found that:.networking within and among generations is increasingly difficult to manage as audience demographics become more diverse.they [meeting professionals] must provide content live, streaming and archived online, and schedules in print and on mobile apps and websites. Food and beverage requirements are changing as younger, more health conscious attendees expect choices that are significantly different than the attendees of the past. (pp.2-3) The third issue that continued to be important during 2012, according to the MPI report is that of risk management and this is specifically related to global economic instability and the flow-on 9 Talwar, R., Hancock, T., du Plessis, A., Lazarova, I., Saer, D., Carver, L. and Fast Future Research, (2012) The IMEX Power of 10 Study What does the Next Decade Hold for the Global Meetings Industry? 10 Newton, A., Grass Roots Meetings Industry Report Market Analysis & 2013 Forecast. Grass Roots HBI London MPI Business Barometer Annual Report 3 P age

10 effects. Short lead times are the most obvious result of this instability, with company budget approvals taking longer and spending policies being delayed. Such short lead times have also resulted in increased room, food and beverage rates as well as a lack of room availability. Although developing at a greater rate than elsewhere, the Asian meetings industry, through the CIBTM Report found that the industry needed to do more with less. Buyers in China and Asia appear now to be just as affected by this trend with 62% saying the volume of events will increase over the next twelve months but only 49% saying budgets will increase (p.2) The report stated that up to 86% are now using social media to communicate before, during and after meetings with almost 30% using apps for providing information to delegates Associations In general, the Associations sector appeared to stabilise in 2012 with the Fourth Annual INCON Survey 13 reporting that 44% of the survey respondents stated that their business levels had remained on par with 2011 and another 15% reported a decrease. Respondents reported no change in event attendance from 2011 to 2012 although 33% forecast an increase in attendee numbers for According to ICCA (2012), the leading countries for hosting international association meetings were USA (833), Germany (649), Spain (550) and UK (477), mirroring the rankings of 2010 and All of these countries showed an increase in the number of meetings held. Similarly, the cities identified by ICCA as hosting the most international association meetings in 2011 were Vienna (195), Paris (181), Berlin (172) and Madrid (164). Barcelona dropped from third place to fifth place, while Madrid moved up from sixth position to fourth. London continued to improve its position moving from fourteenth place in 2010, to seventh place in 2011 to sixth place in 2012 demonstrating the effect of the Olympic Games on destination profiles. Trends in the Association sector during 2012 tended to focus on the impact that increases in delegate accommodation costs were having on budgets. A second important trend was the need to capture content and then to distribute this in a way that could also raise revenue. Understanding the latest trends in technology has become increasingly important. The final trend to emerge during 2012, according to the respondents to the INCON Survey, was the increase in strategic advice given to association clients on the analysis of challenges and the potential opportunities that association clients could adopt Exhibitions UFI s 10 th Global Exhibition Barometer 14 found that the majority of exhibition companies (60%) in Europe, the Middle East and Africa had increased their turnover since The Asia Pacific region maintained a high level of growth in 2012 with 80% of companies stating an increase in turnover during 2010 and The Americas had a lower level of growth in 2012 (Figure 4). 12 CIBTM 2012, IBTM Global Meetings Industry Research 13 Fourth Annual INCON Survey of the Global Association Conference Market, 14 UFI 10 th Global Exhibition Barometer, December P age

11 Figure 4: Percentage of Companies Declaring an Increase in Turnover Compared to the Previous Year Source: UFI (2012), Global Exhibition Barometer, p.5 The survey by UFI (2012) also examined the perceptions of the economic crisis with the results and Figure 5 showing that: The number of companies who believe that the crisis will end in 2013 has dropped from 44% six months ago to 33% today. 36% now believe that the impact of the economic crisis will only end in 2014, 23% that this will occur in 2015 and 8% that it will be later than that. (p. 10) Figure 5: Percentage of companies stating that the impact of the economic crisis on their exhibition business is now over Source: UFI (2012), Global Exhibition Barometer, p.11 As a consequence of these perceptions, the key issues confronting the global exhibition sector were found to be the state of the national/regional economy (20%), global economic uncertainty (17%), local/national competition from the exhibition industry (14%) and internal management challenges (14%). 5 P age

12 2.2.3 Incentives The results from Site s Annual Index provide useful data on trends in the incentives sector, especially in comparison to trends in Respondents were more positive in 2012 than in the previous year with regard to the continued use of motivational travel experiences by companies, at least in the short term. Similarly, more respondents stated in 2012 than in 2011 that the use of all-inclusive hotel would increase in the short term (5% over 2011) and that destinations would be chosen on the basis of the value of their currency against that of the destination being considered (66%). A number of categories appeared to have stabilised from 2011 to 2012 including the use of cruise products, the requirement to measure Return on Investment (ROI), top management in the decision making process for motivational events, the use of green initiatives in the industry and the inclusion of business meetings and CSR events in motivational events. As in 2011, Baby Boomers appear to be the group most motivated by extrinsic rewards while traditionalists are least likely (Figure 6). Figure 6: Ranking of the generations based on how motivated by external rewards such as travel and merchandise. Source: SITE Index Annual Study Executive Summary, 2012, p. 1 Although more US focused, the Incentive Research Foundation s (IRF) data on the incentives industry also provides insights into the sector s trends. According to IRF s September 2012 Pulse Survey 16, respondents were, overall, more optimistic during 2012 (average of all positive responses 51%) compared to 2011 (average of all positive responses 36%) regarding the perceived impact of the economy on ability to plan and implement incentive travel programs. It should be noted, however, that respondents in September 2012 indicated they are less optimistic and considered the economy as having less of a positive impact on their ability to plan and implement incentive travel programs when compared with the previous result in March Corporate Meetings The greatest impact on the corporate meetings sector during 2012 was the global economic crisis. The EIBTM 2012 Trends Watch report states that new investments, particularly in Europe, have been placed on hold as has investment in training and marketing events. 15 Site Index Annual Study Executive Summary, December 2012, Site International Foundation 16 IRF Pulse Survey September 2012, Incentive Research Foundation 6 P age

13 3.0 Australian Overview 3.1. Economy The impact of the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) is still being felt around the world four years on from the key events although Australia has fared better than many countries. Australia s economy has been buoyed by the mining boom, although the high Australian dollar has offset some of the positive effects of this. In 2009, the economy grew by 1.4% - the best performance in the OECD - by 2.5% in 2010, 2.1% in 2011, and 3.3% in Unemployment fell over the years from the peak at 5.7% in late 2009 and to 5.2% in Business Events According to the Tourism & Transport Forum (TTF) 17, the value of Business Events to the economy in 2012 was $24 billion. The previous estimate of the value of Business Events to the economy was released in 2005 as part of the National Business Events Study when it was estimated to be worth $17.9 billion. This figure was obtained by measuring the visitor delegate expenditure, the local day trip expenditure, all non-delegate expenditure such as venue hire and the indirect impacts of Business Events. Based on TRA s data, the TTF report stated there were 20 million Business Events visitors who represented 8% of all visitors, 8% of day visitors and 15% of visitor expenditure in These figures show that Business Events visitors have grown 3.3% each year since 2008, visitor days increased by 2.9% each year and spending increased by 3.2% per annum. Figure 7 provides a diagrammatic representation of understanding the value of Business Events which is discussed further in Figure 7: The Value of Business Events 2012 Total BE Visitor Expenditure $12.9b ( 3%) on 2011) 2012 All Delegate Expenditure (BE visitor spend $289 per day) Visitor Delegate Expenditure All expenditure in Australia (including day trips> 50km Other Delegate Expenditure Day Trips < 50 km Total Business Events Expenditure Other Non-Delegate Expenditure e.g. Venue hire, event organisers Total Business Events Spend Indirect Effects of Business Events e.g. innovation, knowledge transfer, business deal Total Value of Business Events A recent focus for measuring the values of Business Events, both in Australia and overseas, has been a more holistic approach that examines Business Events beyond the tourism context. Many of the previous studies have focused on the economic value of Business Events, but recent 17 Tourism & Transport Forum (TTF). (2013) The Value of Business events: Measuring the Value of the Australian Business Events Sector, P age

14 studies such as those undertaken by Melbourne Convention Bureau 18 and Business Events Sydney 19 have attempted to use broader measures such as the knowledge creation and innovation that may emerge from Business Events. The IMEX Power of 10 Study 20 in 2012 includes the issue of industry development beyond tourism as one of six sub-reports that will be released. Specifically, the report states the Australian reports have pioneered these types of studies, which attempt to measure: benefits [that] include attracting inward investment, generating knowledge economy jobs, securing research funding for academic institutions, building up the local research base, creating opportunities for local businesses, developing new knowledge networks and raising the city profile. (p. 7) More research in this area of estimating the true value of the industry needs to be undertaken, particularly in Australia where the initiative for this research began. 3.3 Tourism Measures of Business Events Performance Although the main source of data, at the macro level, for measuring Business Events performance is through Tourism Research Australia s International Visitors Survey (IVS) and the National Visitors Survey (NVS), the Association of Australian Convention Bureaux (AACB) collects data at the bureau level to measure the bureaux sales and bid performance. These data are invaluable for understanding the trends within the Australian Business Events sector and some results are presented in this report. The AACB is also doing work to track bid success that will help identify future years where demand for events is soft and action needs to be taken. This work will also help identify the key reasons that bids are lost, which is information that can be used to enhance subsequent bids. The data collected through the IVS and the NVS on the number of Business Events visitors, visitor nights and expenditure are provided in Table 1. The data shows the details of Business Events activity between 2009 and 2012 and are discussed in greater detail in Section 5.0. It should be noted that the data contained in Table 1 do not include the many local delegates who did not fit the strict definitions for being a day-tripper. 18 Melbourne Convention and Visitors Bureau (MCVB) (2011) The Holistic Value of Events 19 Business Events Sydney' (BESydney) Beyond Tourism Benefits: Measuring the social legacy of business events 20 The IMEX Power of 10 Study- What Does the Next Decade Hold for the Global Meetings Industry? Executive Summary. Critical Insights and Key Challenges, May P age

15 Table 1: Results from Tourism Research Australia s International Visitor Survey and National Visitor Survey: Business Events visitors, nights and spend 9 P age

16 As can be seen in Figure 8 below, 2012 saw that the convention visitor deficit continued with more Australians travelling overseas to attend conventions than international delegates coming to Australia for conventions. As evidenced by Figure 8, however, the gap between inbound and outbound visitors decreased in 2012 with the difference between arrivals and departures in 2011 being 53,800 while in 2012, the difference was 42,600. This difference was due to a 10% increase in arrivals and smaller increase of departures of 3% 21. These data are provided from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) from the Overseas Arrivals and Departures surveys (OAD) and, although these data do not pick up all convention arrivals, they provide trend data based on inbound and outbound visitors who indicate conventions as the stated reason for travel. Figure 8: ABS Convention Inbound and Outbound Visitors ( ) Source: BECA, 2013 (based on ABS OAD statistics) By December 2012, total business event visitor expenditure rose 3% ($0.3 billion) from $12.6 billion in December 2011 to $12.9 billion. Domestic day Business Events expenditure experienced the greatest increase for the second year running of 24% increasing from $1 billion in 2011 to $1.2 billion in International Business Events expenditure increased by 12% from 2011 to 2012, while domestic overnight Business Events expenditure decreased by 2% from 2011 to According to the TTF report (2013) 22, the average trip length during 2012 was 2.7 days, the average expenditure per trip was $643 while the average expenditure per day was $237. The number of nights away from home to attend Business Events increased from 42.3 million in 2011 to 44.6 million in 2012 representing a 5% increase. Domestic overnight Business Events trips were down by 2% in 2012 compared to The number of international association meetings held in Australia increased in 2012 over 2011, resulting in Australia s international ranking for association events improving from 16 th in 2011 to 13 th in Australia also moved up one position within the Asia Pacific region rankings from 4 th (2011) to 3 rd in Key Performance Indicators In order to assess and monitor over time the performance of Australia s Business Events sector, a range of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) has been identified and listed in Table 2 below. Where possible, values for 2011 have also been listed for comparison with the 2012 figures. 21 BECA, Convention Arrival Figures for the Australian Business Events Industry, issued January Tourism & Transport Forum (TTF). (2013) The Value of Business events: Measuring the Value of the Australian Business Events Sector, P age

17 Table 2: Key Performance Indicators for 2011/2012 Key Performance Indicator (KPI) % Change* Australia s annual growth in participant numbers in the ICCA Report 64,627 76,375 18% ABS Convention / Conference arrivals to Australia 171, ,500 11% Federal funding of Business Events (marketing only) $3.5 M p.a. through TA $5.05 p.a through TA 44% International business event visitors (IVS) 884K 919K 4% International business event visitor trip nights (IVS) 15,419K 18,286K 19% International business event visitor spend in Australia (IVS) $2428M $2729M 12% Domestic overnight business event visitors (NVS) 9,470K 9,326K -2% Domestic overnight business event visitor nights (NVS) 26,907K 26,309K -2% Domestic overnight business event visitor spend (NVS) $9,129K $8,917K -2% Domestic day business event visitors (NVS) 9,023K 9,765K 8% Domestic day business event visitor spend (NVS) $773M $892M 15% Total business event visitors 19,376K 20,010K 3% Total business event visitor nights 42,326K 44,595K 5% Total business event visitor spend in Australia $12,554M $12,871M 3% State government funding of convention bureaux M M 2 2% Local government funding of convention bureaux 2.5M 1 2.5M 2-0.8% Total cash provided to convention bureau by the private sector 9.3M M 2 15% Total number of members of convention bureau 1, , % Total number of convention bureau bids won % Total estimated delegate expenditure from bids won 590M 1 620M 2 5% Total number of convention bureau bids lost % Australia s rank in the list of Overall Country Brand 5 6 N/A Australia s rank in the Anholt-GFK Nation Brand 8 9 N/A Accredited meeting managers (MEA) % Note 1: Refer to financial year Note 2: Refer to financial year * percentage changes have been rounded 23 Information relating to convention bureau from: AACB Performance Report P age

18 5.0 Sectoral Analysis 5.1. Conference/ Convention Arrivals According to ABS OAD data, arrivals to Australia for the purposes of attending conferences and conventions during 2012 totalled 190,000 showing an 11% increase on It is important to note that the purpose of visit in the ABS data is based on the categories that visitors mark on their arrival cards. It has been found in earlier studies that quite a number of visitors whose trip is prompted by a business event also have a holiday whilst in Australia and mark the holiday category for purpose of visit or, indeed, mark the business category. This results in a substantial under-estimation of the number of business event visitors but the figures are useful for interperiod comparisons. Using TRA data, which collect responses about attendance at Business Events (conferences, exhibitions, incentives and business meetings) during the respondents stay in Australia and are shown in Table 1, international conference and convention visitor numbers increased by 18% from 2011 to International conference and convention visitors trip nights and spend in Australia also increased from 2011 to 2012 by 38% and 30% respectively. As can be seen in Figure 9, New Zealand (NZ) remains Australia s major source market for conference visitors, providing approximately double the number of visitors that the next market (USA) provides. There was a 2.5% increase in the convention arrivals from NZ during 2012 compared to 2011 with increases also in other countries such as USA (26%), China (23%), Malaysia (20%), United Kingdom (17%), and Korea. The greatest decrease in numbers was the India market (33%). Figure 9: Number of convention or conference visitors to Australia by country of residence. Year ended 31 December 2012 compared to year ended December Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics, Overseas Arrivals and Departures As can be seen in Figure 10 that compares the monthly convention/conference arrivals to Australia over the last five years, convention arrival figures for December in 2012 were substantially higher than in previous years with a total of 10,500 arrivals compared to 7,200 in A number of other months in 2012 such as May, August and September showed a strengthening of the convention market in Australia. 12 P age

19 Figure 10: Conference/Convention Arrivals to Australia Monthly Comparisons Source: BECA, 2013 (compiled from ABS OAD figures) Associations The most recent data on Australia s position with regard to the association sector comes from the ICCA Country and City Rankings Report These data are based on the number of association conferences held and, as illustrated in Table 3, Australia increased its ranking from 16 th in 2011 to 13 th in Table 3: Top International Meeting Countries in 2012 Ranking ICCA Country 1 USA 2 Germany 3 Spain 4 United Kingdom 5 France 6 Italy 7 Brazil 8 Japan 9 China-P.R. 10 Austria Australia 13 (2011 Australia ranked 16) Sources: ICCA Report 2012 ICCA s 2012 report also provides the rankings of the cities according to the number of meetings held. A number of Australian cities improved their rankings. Sydney, for example, moved from 34 th in 2011 to 24 th in 2012, with Brisbane from 87 th to 56 th and Perth from 132 nd to 100 th. No Australian city was ranked within the top 10 in 2012 in contrast to 2010 when Sydney was ranked in 10 th position. 13 P age

20 Table 4: Top International Meeting Cities 2012 Ranking ICCA City 2012 ICCA City Vienna Vienna 2 Paris Paris 3 Berlin Barcelona 4 Madrid Berlin 5 Barcelona Singapore 6 London Madrid 7 Singapore London 8 Copenhagen Amsterdam 9 Istanbul Istanbul 10 Amsterdam Beijing Sydney 24 Melbourne - 31 Melbourne 39 Sydney 34 Brisbane 56 Brisbane - 87 Perth 100 Perth Cairns 134 Cairns Adelaide 142 Gold Coast Canberra 263 Canberra Sources: ICCA Report 2012 As illustrated in Figure 8, Australia showed a steady decline in its international ranking in the ICCA report between 2000 and 2009, dropping from 4 th to 16 th place. In 2010, however, Australia improved its position to 11 th built largely on the improved performance of Sydney, which hosted 41 more international association meetings in 2010 than it did in Australia s position of 16 th in 2011 has returned to its 2009 ranking. Figure 11: ICCA: Movements in Worldwide Rankings, Australia (no. of meetings) Year Source: Based on historical data - ICCA statistics Ranking In the Asia Pacific region, ICCA data show that Australia fell from 1 st place in 2006 to 4 th place in 2009, rebounding to 3 rd place in Australia dropped back to 4 th position again in 2012 (Table 5). 14 P age

21 Table 5: Australia s Competitive ICCA Ranking in the Asia Pacific (Based on the number of meetings) Ranking Australia Australia Japan Japan Japan Japan China P.R Japan 2 Japan Japan China PR China PR China PR China PR Japan China PR 3 China PR China PR Australia Australia Korea Australia Korea Australia 4 Singapore Singapore Korea Korea Australia Korea Australia Korea ICCA Report 2012 Table 6, which is extracted from TRA data (2012), provides details of conference activity in Australia with visitor type and numbers, trip nights and spend for the period 2008 to It can be seen that international and domestic overnight visitors for conferences and conventions increased during 2012 over 2011 in relation to international and domestic day numbers, visitor nights and expenditure in Australia. However, domestic overnight visitor numbers (-6%) to conventions as well as expenditure (-8%) and trip nights (-9%) decreased from 2012 to 2011 Table 6: Conference/convention/seminar visitors, nights and spend. YE Dec YE 2012 Visitor type % Change International Visitors ( 000) % Trip Nights ( 000) % Spend in Australia ($ m) % Domestic overnight Visitors ( 000) % Trip Nights ( 000) % Spend in Australia ($ m) % Domestic day Visitors ( 000) % Spend in Australia ($ m) % Total Visitors ( 000) % Trip Nights ( 000) % Spend in Australia ($ m) % Source: TRA Business Events Visitors (2013), 15 P age

22 Incentives During 2012, the incentives sector experienced great variation in visitor numbers, nights and spend. There were decreases in international visitors (20%), trip nights (17%) and expenditure (8%) in 2012 compared to Although there was a 6% increase in total trip nights for incentive travel for 2012 over 2011 figures, total visitors decreased by 23% and total expenditure declined by 2%. Table 7: Incentive visitors, nights and spend. Visitor type % Change International Visitors ( 000) % Trip Nights ( 000) % Spend in Australia ($ mi) % Domestic overnight Visitors ( 000) % Trip Nights ( 000) % Spend in Australia ($ m) % Total Visitors ( 000) % Trip Nights ( 000) % Spend in Australia ($ m) % Source: TRA Business Events Visitors (2013 Note: International incentive visitors are defined as those who visited as part of a job related reward or bonus provided by their employer for performance or sales and travelled with business associates and/or on a group (excluding sporting tours, guided holiday tours and school excursions) Business Meetings While the 2012 data for total business meetings visitors showed an increase of 5%, this increase was significantly lower than the increase for 2011 over 2010 figures. The largest increase in business meetings for 2012 over 2011 data was in domestic day expenditure (15%) 16 P age

23 Table 8: Business Meetings visitors, nights and spend. Visitor type % Change International Visitors ( 000) % Trip Nights ( 000) % Spend in Australia ($ m) % Domestic overnight Visitors ( 000) % Trip Nights ( 000) % Spend in Australia ($ m) % Domestic day Visitors ( 000) % Spend in Australia ($ m) % Total Visitors % Trip Nights % Spend in Australia % Source: TRA Business Events Visitors (2013) BECA defines a business event as a meeting being held in a commercial venue and involving more than 15 persons with a common purpose. The International Visitor Survey (IVS) and the National Visitor Survey (NVS) collect data on visitors for business meetings but it needs to be recognised that some of those who are identified in the IVS and NVS as attending business meetings would not meet BECA s criteria for attending a meeting. The main reason for this difference would be that the venue used to stage the meeting is not a commercial venue Exhibitions According to the peak exhibition body, Exhibition & Event Association of Australasia s, (EEAA) 2012 Annual Report, 24 EEAA member venues hosted 604 events, including 157 new events in At these events, 24,109 exhibitors participated with a total of million visitors. This provides an average of 9,217 per event. In terms of trends in the exhibition sector, suppliers and organisers stated that there were a number of challenges for the sector including decreasing exhibitor budgets, building and construction at venues, domestic economy, cost of doing business and cost of hiring staff as the most frequently cited industry impacts. Of the organisers surveyed, 53% stated they would present new events in 2013 with suppliers reporting positive business growth. 47% of the suppliers stated turnover had increased from the previous financial year and only 20% reporting a decrease. Data from the 2012 IVS and NVS as presented in Table 9 indicates that for exhibitions, there were increased international visitor numbers (up by 25 %), trip nights (up by 45 %) and 24 EEAA Factsheet Market Monitor #3 Insights 2012 Annual Report and July December 2012 Six Months 30 April P age

24 expenditure increasing by 49 % over 2011 figures. In relation to domestic day visitors to exhibitions in 2012, numbers were lower than in 2011, but total spend was higher (30%), while domestic overnight spend decreased by 52%. Table 9: Exhibitions visitors, nights and spend. Visitor type % Change International Visitors ( 000) % Trip Nights ( 000) % Spend in Australia ($ m) % Domestic overnight Visitors ( 000) % Trip Nights ( 000) % Spend in Australia ($ m) % Domestic day Visitors ( 000) % Spend in Australia ($ m) % Total Visitors ( 000) % Trip Nights ( 000) % Spend in Australia ($ m) % Source: TRA, Business Events Visitors: Other Factors 6.1 Investment TRA s Tourism Investment Monitor, provides details of investment in a range of business event related areas. The key areas of the tourism supply chain of accommodation, transport (aviation) and arts and recreation services all serve to underpin the Business Events sector. In 2012, the tourism investment pipeline was valued at $44.1billion showing a 22% increase or $7.9 billion over 2011 investment. The key areas to assist the Tourism 2020 strategy in achieving growth in overnight expenditure are accommodation and aviation, both domestic and international. 25 Tourism Research Australia (TRA), Tourism Investment Monitor, P age

25 Table 10: Tourism Investment Pipeline 2012 Accommodation (hotels and resorts) Transport (aviation) Sold Under consideration / possible Committed / under construction / recently completed Total ($ million) 1,440 2,561 3,008 5,569 NA 5,219 23,721 28,940 Arts and NA recreation services 4,021 5,599 9,620 Source: TRA, Tourism Investment Monitor, 2013, p. iv Accommodation TRA s Tourism Investment Monitor (2013) estimates that in 2012, the accommodation investment pipeline, which includes refurbishment and approved construction of new stock, amounted to $5.6 billion. This provided an additional 9,760 rooms to supply. This is an increase of 1,589 rooms from the previous edition of the Tourism Investment Monitor in In 2012 there were 24 mixed-use projects considered in the accommodation investment pipeline, accounting for upwards of an additional 2,500 rooms. The Accommodation pipeline increased 26 per cent, or by $1.1 billion from 2011 to 2012 and it would appear that room yields are increasing after the fall in yield in Table 11: Key indicators for Australia s larger accommodation establishments Room Supply Occupancy Rates $ per available room At June Change: At June Change: At June Change: Qtr 2012 on Dec Qtr on Dec Qtr on Dec Qtr Qtr Qtr 2009 Takings At June Qtr 2012 No. No. % % points $ % $ billion % NSW 70, Vic 42,869 2, Qld 60,638-1, SA 12, WA 21, Tas 6, NT 7, ACT 4, Australia At Dec Qtr 2011 Latest quarter (stock) Change: on Dec Qtr 2009 At Dec Qtr 2011 Latest Year ending Change: on Dec Qtr 2009 At Dec Qtr 2011 Latest Year ending Change: on Dec Qtr 2009 At Dec Qtr 2011 Latest Year ending No. No. % % points $ % $ billion % Capital cities and Gold Coast Regional Australia Australia Source: TRA State of the Industry Report, 2012, p. 56 Change: on Dec Qtr 2009 Change: on Dec Qtr 2009 As stated in the TRA State of the Industry 2012, however, there are two major investment gaps in the accommodation area, namely a deficiency in short-term accommodation in metropolitan 19 P age

26 areas, especially in hotels and a lack of quality, but not quantity of accommodation stock in regional areas. Figure 12: Real Yields per Available Rooms Source: TRA State of the Industry Report 2012, p. 55 As illustrated in Figure 10, room yields are now increasing particularly after the low point of As the TRA State of the Industry 2012 report argues: Rising accommodation yields, underpinned by strong growth in business travel, are triggering investment interest, but there still is some way to go for large-scale growth in room stock. Interest appears patchy with anecdotal evidence suggesting that lower end 3-4 star hotel accommodation is currently more financially viable than high-end 5-star hotels (p. 54) Aviation In 2012, the total transport (aviation) pipeline investment was valued at $29 billion. Much of this assessment relates to aircraft fleet expansion by national carriers as shown in Table 12. Table 12: Investment in transport (aviation) ($m), 2012 Under consideration / possible Committed Under construction Total ($ million) Airport 5, ,210 6,429 infrastructure Aircraft 0 NA 22,511 22,511 Total 5, ,721 28,940 Source: TRA Tourism Investment Monitor 2013 According to the Tourism Investment Monitor 2013 the value of aviation pipeline investment increased by $7.9 billion in 2012, the increase being largely due to the growth in aircraft investment (up $5.8 billion). Airport infrastructure investment also increased (up $2.1 billion) 20 P age

27 Figure 13: Australia s international aviation sector, inbound seat capacity and passenger load factors Source: TRA State of the Industry Report 2012, p. 59 As illustrated by Figure 11, the global aviation industry has experienced a range of crises with regard to air travel demand. In between these crises, significant investment has occurred not only in Australian airlines, but also competitor airlines the introduction of low-cost carriers has impacted on fares generally. 21 P age

28 7.0 Conclusion In conclusion, global trends in Business Events such as the impact of technology, demographics and risk management have also impacted the Australian Business Events industry. In 2012, the flow-on effects of the GFC, the Eurozone crisis and the US fiscal cliff affected Business Events by creating a more cautious business environment. In Australia, the Business Events industry is well on its way to achieving its 2020 goal of attracting $16 billion from overnight Business Events delegates. Business Events were estimated to have contributed $24 billion in 2012 and this is forecast to rise to $31 billion by In 2012, the total expenditure from the industry rose 3% over 2011 expenditure to reach $10.0 billion. There was further growth in the China market, and traditional business event markets such as New Zealand continued to grow. Business meetings and conferences also showed increases in expenditure while expenditure in the incentive sector and exhibition sector experienced decreases of 28% and 2% respectively. With regard to international association events, however, Australian moved up from 16 th position to 13 th position. Australia also improved its position in the Asia Pacific region moving from 4 th position in 2011 to 3 rd position in 2012 There has been increased investment in infrastructure supporting the Business Events industry, in areas such as aviation and accommodation, with an accompanying increase in room yield from a low point in Increased investment and other positive signs such as improvements in the Australian ranking of international association conferences (ICCA 2012) auger well for future growth in Business Events. 22 P age