Forgotten again! But is it our fault?

The Events sector misses out on subsidies again.

The Federal Government’s latest package supports tourism and the flow-on to restaurants, bars, taxis, supermarkets etc. Residents are being given restaurant vouchers and travel subsidies. Yet the sector that was shut FIRST, the Events & Exhibitions industry, has had no acknowledgement or support to allow it to rebuild after the end of March.

Whilst various tourism bodies lobby yet again for what they want more of, it seems the event industry has yet again been snubbed and forgotten completely. It’s now hurting and placing the industry in a very dire position.

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Despite the event industry statistics (in 2019 the industry had a direct contribution of $35 BILLION and pre-pandemic staged approximately 484,000 events nationally) outside the Business Events Grants (BEG) announced last year, there has been no other support. The Business Events Grant was flawed as it only represented single digit percentage support in our sector’s overall worth and doesn’t support or acknowledge the consumer sector of the events industry which makes up 50% of all shows.

It’s a real kick in the guts. The exhibition and event industry represents a major commercial sector that can contribute to rebuilding consumer and business confidence. The vast majority of our sector are family-owned businesses who have sacrificed everything to come through, unlike huge corporate airlines and hotels in the tourism sector. Now we are at the tipping point.

Think about each capital city and the size of the Exhibition and Convention Centres. You can’t miss them! How does the state and federal governments think they get filled ? Maybe it’s no coincidence the programme is abbreviated to BEG. Is that what we have to do to have ALL events included for support to trade out and get some equality?

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There are questions being raised around what the exhibition and conference industry associations have been doing to support the industry, ensuring the Government’s awareness about the issues so we are supported. It seems they all jump on what others achieve but have been lacking in any big moves and self-initiated actions.

I believe they are out of touch with their members’ pain. They jump in on what others achieve and claim it as their own. They really need to accept responsibility for the lack of government and media awareness, as it’s now coming home to roost. They need to accept some of where we are now is their fault due to lack of proactive actions.

I’m a previous founding member of an industry association, initiating a number of industry events which still run annually. Over the last 12 months I’ve personally funded a media awareness programme that has created more awareness than all the associations combined!

The industry is normally estimated to pay out $11.1 BILLION in direct wages, employ in excess of 229,000, and connect 43.7 MILLION people face-to-face annually. This is no small contribution.

I believes there is a huge lack of understanding about the event industry, what we do, and how we can help. Our issue hasn’t changed. State premiers’ border closures which have affected confidence are lingering. It is paramount that the Federal Government use their powers to now get a signed agreement that borders will remain open. They also need to consider providing funding for a national advertising campaign to encourage the return of exhibitors and visitors to events, enforce consistent COVID rules between each State and, given we have very specific costs associated with running events, come to the party and at least cover these for organisers, venues and suppliers.

There are a number of exhibitions and conferences that have now successfully run, however they have all suffered in numbers of exhibitors and sponsor’s revenue. Attendance, whilst strong and qualified, has also been impacted.

The event industry is made up of passionate people, but without change, acknowledgement, and help, it will be interesting to see who survives.