Industry update
Industry rallies to support regional Australia As bushfires raged throughout Australia over summer, the events industry stepped up to show its support for regional communities.
How can you help? 1: SHARE THE MESSAGE Download the toolkit at bit.ly/EventHereThisYear. It has everything you need to know about how to integrate the campaign into your marketing.
2: HOLD AN EVENT AT HOME If you’re an event decision maker, choose Australia and encourage your networks to event in Australia this year.
3: SPREAD THE WORD Use social media channels to spread the message further by posting your #EventHereThisYear experiences online.
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ustralia’s bushfire season was one of the worst the nation has seen in recent times, fuelled by high temperatures and severe drought conditions. At time of printing, at least 33 lives have been lost and more than 11 million hectares of land has been burned, predominantly in New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia. While February has brought some respite for firefighters and volunteers working tirelessly to control blazes, the impacts of this bushfire season will continue to be felt for many months to come. Speaking to Spice in January, Carla Offord, CEO at venue sourcing specialist The Conference Shop, said regional destinations are “screaming for business” after experiencing unprecedented event cancellations and low visitors numbers. “After speaking with a lot of hotels in regional destinations, they’ve had the highest cancellation rates of any conferences in a long time, and we’re talking about conferences that are even a couple of months away,” she said. “There should be a little bit of responsibility placed on corporates to take their business out regional if they can.” In response to the industry’s concerns about losing business due to bushfires, Business Events Australia launched the Event Here This Year campaign, as part of the Federal Government’s $76 million National Bushfire Recovery Fund. The campaign aims to encourage decision
Merimbula Wharf, NSW. Credit: Destination NSW
makers across Australia to keep their 2020 events local and support bushfire-affected regions through business events. Announcing the campaign, Federal Tourism Minister Simon Birmingham said the tourism and events sector has “taken a hit” in recent months, even in regions not directly affected by the bushfires. “This is a huge opportunity for Aussie businesses to support communities across Australia, whether it is those in fireaffected regions or other communities across Australia who are also feeling the pain from less visitors,” he said. The campaign runs alongside Tourism Australia’s Holiday Here This Year campaign, encouraging Aussies to travel to regional communities in 2020. A number of social media campaigns have also garnered a following throughout the bushfire season, namely the #EmptyEsky movement, which urges travellers to take empty eskies on their trips to fill with local goods along the way to support rural businesses. n
Kiama, South Coast NSW. Credit: Destination NSW
10 Spice Autumn 2020