New Chair for Business Events Council of Australia

BECA Chair Dr Leo Jago "BECA and its many achievements provides a solid platform upon which a new and better resourced peak body will support business events in the decades to come”

The Business Events Council of Australia (BECA) has appointmed Dr Leo Jago OAM as its new Chair.

Dr Jago has a strong research background in business events and the visitor economy. He is widely recognised for his leadership in the inaugural landmark National Business Events Study as Deputy CEO and Director for Research of the Cooperative Research Centre for Sustainable Tourism. He also helped establish the UNWTO guidelines for assessing the economic impact of business events and was heavily involved in the early work to identify the ‘beyond tourism’ value of business events.

For much of the last 20 years, Dr Jago has been a Professor and Director of tourism-related research centres at universities in Australia and the UK. He also spent three years as the inaugural Chief Economist and General Manager of Tourism Research Australia where he was responsible for the establishment and management of Australia’s national tourism research agenda.

Dr Jago said, “Covid-related lockdowns and border closures have decimated the business events industry over the last two years. Not only do business events have a large direct economic impact, they also underpin the performance of many other sectors of the economy.

“I am delighted to be taking on this role with BECA as I believe that the peak body will be instrumental in helping drive the recovery of business events and building Australia’s economy”.