The $35.7 Billion Business Event Sector Left Empty Handed Again!

via Save Victorian Events

Even though business events – worth $35.7 billion per year – account for one third of the tourism sector, the Event Industry was once again left empty handed today.

The federal government’s $1.2 billion Tourism Support Packages includes nothing for the now decimated business event sector. The only thing mentioned was a three-month extension of the existing $50 million Business Event Grant program – that was announced many months ago – and is only relevant to a tiny proportion of the business event sector (hence the poor take up). To date, this has been the only targeted support.

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A recent survey by Save Victorian Events showed that if JobKeeper is not extended that 40% of Victorian event industry companies will likely need to close and a further 43% will need to shed their staff. In addition, 69% of the highly skilled freelancers and contractors that the event industry relies so heavily on will need to leave the industry. 95% of Victorian event industry businesses are currently relying on JobKeeper to be able to keep their staff and to survive.

When Save NSW Events ran the same survey, they got almost identical results. With 42% of companies likely to needing to close and 45% needing to let their staff go. And 75% of freelancers and contractors needing to leave the event industry.

It is almost one year to the day since the event industry came to a crashing halt. Over 100,000 events worth over $10 billion have been lost in Victoria alone. Precious few events are currently confirmed. Many businesses face collapse. Many event people and businesses have not worked on a live event since March 2020.

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There has still been no real targeted support for the Event Industry from the federal or the Victorian governments. Our industry has been completely abandoned.

Today’s announcement, with no support, is a devastating blow to Victoria’s Event Industry and to the Event Industry right across Australia. We now face the grim reality that the two surveys forecast.