New data shows NSW is Australia's number one destination for business events.

According to Tourism Research Australia, business events contributed $6.06 billion to the NSW visitor economy in the year ending June 2024. This represented 11.5 per cent of total visitor expenditure in the state and 31 per cent of the national total of $19.8 billion.

There were more than 6.6 million business travellers to NSW in the year ending June 2024, representing 6.5 per cent of total visitors to the state.

International visitors travelling for business events spent $2.5 billion in Australia during the period. The remaining $17.3 billion of spend included $16.1 billion from domestic overnight travel and $1.3 billion through domestic daytrips to attend business events.

The international visitor sector for business events was in a recovery phase during 2023. International visitor numbers for year ending June 2024 (770,000) were at 76 per cent compared to 2019.

Learn more about the TRA data here.

The results follow the International Congress and Convention Association ranking Sydney as Australia’s top destination for business meetings, with the city moving from 55th place globally in 2022 to 25th place in 2023.

Among recent wins for the business events sector is the International Mining and Resources Conference + Expo (IMARC) confirming Sydney will host the conference in 2025 for the fourth consecutive year.

Since the move to Sydney, IMARC has reported record numbers, this year 9000 attendees from 115 countries contributed an estimated direct expenditure of $17.8 million.

IMARC 2024 was held at International Convention Centre Sydney (ICC Sydney) and will be held there again next year from 21-23 October. Learn more here.

Business events boost regional NSW

Business events delivered an estimated $6 million in direct expenditure to regional NSW in the year ending June 2024.

Destination NSW's Business Events NSW program secured 62 new business events for regional NSW during the period.

The program raises awareness and consideration for regional NSW as a premier business event destination and drives new event sales enquiries directly to stakeholders.

Learn more about Business Events NSW here.

ABEA releases 'State of the Business Events Industry' report

The Australian Business Events Association (ABEA) recently released its first annual 'State of the Business Events Industry (2023)' report.

The report provides insights into the business events industry’s performance in 2023, reflecting on the global and domestic landscape, as well as key trends impacting the sector.

It covers the total size and economic contribution of business events, contribution of business events to the visitor economy and data covering convention centres, the events pipeline, the bid fund program, airline capacity, ICCA global rankings, incentive travel index, challenges and more.

The report noted: "The global business events industry bounced back to near pre-pandemic levels during 2023 demonstrating the industry’s resilience despite rising costs and labour challenges.

"Sustainability became an even higher priority across the industry with eco-friendly practices becoming an essential part of business event offerings.

"The uptake of technology in business events that commenced prior to the pandemic accelerated during 2023 and there was growing interest in particular on the use of artificial intelligence (AI) to support business
events.

"The fact that Millennials have now become a large pool of business event attendees prompted organisers to reflect on the changes to business event offerings to meet the needs of this group.

"The outlook for 2024 is bright despite rising costs and labour challenges."

To receive a copy of the report, contact memberservices@abea.org.au