Simon Thewlis also says the Australian industry has not fully recovered from the pandemic.
The long-time event producer and consultant says government statistics do not go far enough to measure the value of the industry beyond generating hotel room nights for the tourism industry. This is principally the Business Event Visitor data from the Federal Government’s Tourism Research Agency.
He says figures from the new Australian Bureau of Statistics Labour Force Survey give a better picture of the state of the industry. And they are not particularly positive.
“The data allows us to see the longer term impact of the pandemic, and some of the challenging years since, on one key part of the event industry: on the category of people who work as event organisers,” he says.
Comparing the Labour Force Survey Data for Event Organisers for the past full financial year prior to the pandemic with the just-finished financial year, results are quite alarming. It shows:
- The number of people working as event organisers in Victoria has dropped by 38.8 per cent.
- In New South Wales they are back to similar numbers to before the pandemic.
- In Queensland they have seen an increase of 70 per cent.
- NSW now has nearly twice as many people working as event organisers as Victoria.
- The number of people working as event organisers nationally has gone down by 15.2 per cent.
Looking at the latest Business Event Visitor Data for the full 2024 calendar year, Thewlis says overall business event visitor numbers are down 5.4 per cent compared to the previous year although spend remains fairly constant.
Thewlis believes that the loss of event organiser roles, particularly in Victoria, is having an adverse impact on the sector and governments should be doing more to help.
“The events industry drives a third of the revenue of the Visitor Economy yet we are often just a few bland paragraphs in government Visitor Economy strategies. We just get lumped under tourism and forgotten.
“Austrade’s recent ‘Definitive Snapshot of Australia’s Visitor Economy in 2024’ made no reference at all to the events industry. Sadly, this has been very consistent.
“The loss of 38.8 per cent of our event organisers in Victoria should finally ring alarm bells for a state where events are integral to its brand and identity. Just as losing 15.2 per cent nationally should raise some concerns.”