Queensland Business Events Survey* (QBES) results for the year ending June 2019 show the Gold Coast's appeal as a global business events destination is on the rise attracting more events and delegates than ever before.
Destination Gold Coast CEO Annaliese Battista said the business events sector injected an estimated $570 million into the Gold Coast economy, up six per cent year-on-year.
“The Gold Coast's ever-evolving tourism offering, maturing transport infrastructure and compelling appeal continues to stimulate market interest within Australia and abroad,” said Ms Battista.
“As a result, Gold Coast's business events market share grew by five per cent, attracting one in every two Queensland events.
“The sector provides significant follow-on benefits to the tourism economy, so we are delighted to also see an increase in the number of delegates enjoying our facilities, attractions and experiences.
“Total delegate numbers increased five per cent to 193,382, with many taking the opportunity to stay and enjoy Australia's favourite playground with their families.
“Proactive strategies in our core markets yielded strong return on investment, particularly from incentive-based events which saw the number of groups arriving on the Gold Coast climb by almost 26 per cent.”
The upward trend in incentives is expected to continue with renewed interest from Asian markets including Japan spurring the growth, however recent unprecedented events are driving a nationwide downturn in visitation to Australia.
Ms Battista said the outbreak of coronavirus and the negative global exposure of the worst bushfire season in Australia's history is having an adverse impact on Gold Coast's leisure and business events sectors.
“Although Gold Coast was not directly impacted by the bushfires, international visitation has been affected so we are working with industry and stakeholders to get the message out that we remain open for business,” she said.
“We pivoted our efforts in the domestic market last year and we have already had great success in securing multi-year conferences in the immediate and forthcoming years.”
Destination Gold Coast in collaboration with industry partners has secured 43,220 delegates for upcoming conferences over the next six-months, with forward bookings estimated to deliver $89 million in economic impact.
Business Events FY19 Results
Gold Coast - Meetings: 1,579 +4%
Delegates: 193,382 +5%
Delegate Days: 604,621 +5%
*Queensland Business Events Survey (QBES) 2018-19, compiled by Queensland Treasury for Tourism and Events Queensland. Due to a change in reporting methodology, meeting & conventions and delegate data does not include unidentified incentive data. Economic Impact includes unidentified incentive data.
The Business Events Council of Australia defines a business event as: as any public or private activity consisting of minimum of 15 persons with a common interest or vocation, held in a specific venue or venues, and hosted by an organisation (or organisations). This may include (but not limited to): conferences, conventions, symposia, congresses, incentive group events, marketing events, special celebrations, seminar, courses, public or trade shows, product launches, exhibitions, company general meetings, corporate retreats, study tours or training programs.
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