Business events are important contributors to Australia’s visitor economy. Business events attract high-yield domestic and international travellers to and across Australia. High-yield travellers spend more than average on accommodation, food, services and experiences during their trips.
Our Tourism Research Australia (TRA) team now publishes business events data in its official statistics. Business events data forms part of TRA’s Domestic Visitor Survey (NVS) and International Visitor Survey (IVS).
Improving data and insights is a priority of Australia’s long-term strategy for the visitor economy, THRIVE 2030. TRA leads this work within Austrade.
Check this page quarterly, as we plan to expand the business events data we publish.
Spend in Australia is the internationally endorsed measure of the amount spent by international travellers to Australia. It captures the expenditure that occurs within Australia wherever the traveller was when they made their purchase, how they made the purchase, or the ownership of the business where the purchase was made.
Over the period:
International visits for business events was in a recovery phase during 2023. International visitor numbers for year ending June 2024 (770,000) were at 76% of pre-COVID figures (compared to 2019).
Extra expenditure on business travel that is not captured in the official Spend in Australia measure may be of interest to the industry and policymakers. This broader measure is referred to as Total Trip Spend. It captures expenditure that occurs outside Australia that does not make its way into the Australian economy, for example, international airfares.
Over the period, the business events sector contributed an extra $1.9 billion in spend overseas to generate $21.7 billion in total trip spend. This $21.7 billion is made up of:
Open the Visitor Economy Facts and Figures data in full-screen mode.
Business events data collected through the NVS and IVS includes all business-related activities where the survey respondent either attended or accompanied someone who attended a:
Our business event figures specifically capture the contribution of business events to Australia's visitor economy. The scope of our methodology does not take into consideration the expenditure of exhibitors and organisers outside of the delegate fees, high yielding incentive events, and local delegates who make up the majority of event attendees. Therefore, the contribution of business events reported to the visitor economy will be substantially smaller than its contribution to the economy overall.
According to THRIVE 2030, having relevant, robust and timely data is critical for growth. It underpins good decision-making, business growth and investor confidence. It’s also important for measuring industry performance, monitoring trends and informing government policy.
Business events add more value than just the immediate boost from traveller spend. They facilitate the exchange of ideas, concepts, systems and products, and create new networks and opportunities. These then add economic benefit by:
Our business events measurements will support decision-making about which business events Australia should target. It will also help the visitor economy understand how it can benefit from these travellers and increase the chance that they will make return visits.
Measuring the value of business events has always been challenging. That’s because they:
We have worked with the business events industry on how to incorporate business events measurements into visitor economy statistics.
This includes work with the Australian Business Events Association (ABEA) to further develop and enhance statistics and insights for the sector.
Stay up to date on the latest tourism policies, programs, research, and broader Australian Government programs to support the visitor economy. Subscribe to Austrade’s Visitor Economy News and TRA News Alerts.