The Association of Australian Convention Bureaux (AACB) has backed opposition leader Mark McGowen on his pledge to invest US$5m per annum in the Perth Convention Bureau (PCB) if WA Labor wins office at next year’s state election.
In 2014, Deloitte described the business events sector as ‘a high-value, fast-growing component of the visitor economy’.
One in five dollars spent by international visitors in Australia is spent by an international delegate attending some form of business event. In addition, international delegates spend, on average, 21 per cent more than other international visitors over the course of their trip – and 77 per cent more per day.
AACB CEO, Andrew Hiebl said: “With tourism being identified by Deloitte as one of Australia’s five super-growth industries, now is not the time to cut investment in convention bureaux, especially with the mining boom transitioning to production.
“State and territory investment in convention bureaux around the country is a critical component of the public-private-partnership structures that they work under. Governments that are truly committed to the doubling of overnight expenditure in line with Australia’s Tourism 2020 targets will have a solid and secure investment strategy for the business events sector.”
The extreme funding decrease of 28 per cent announced by WA Treasurer Nahan last year would diminish the PCB’s capacity to bid for and win new international and national conventions for the state which would see Western Australia miss out on the opportunity to leverage this industry, he argued.
AACB called on the State Liberal Government to reverse its PCB funding cut decision and back a sector that can drive jobs and economic prosperity for Western Australia.
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