Australia’s minister for trade, tourism and investment, Steven Ciobo has been in the United States to promote Australia to key business events stakeholders.
The Ultimate Winery Experiences of Australia showcase event at the end of April was part of the Turnbull government’s support for the business events sector.
Last month, the Australian government announced a A$12m (US$8.26m) Business Events Bid Fund to attract more global conferences to the country.
“In 2017, more than 1m international business events visitors spent $4.75bn in Australia,” the minister said, noting that, “if the business events sector was a country, it would be Australia’s second largest market after China, in terms of visitor expenditure.”
Business events visitors from the United States are particularly valuable to Australia, the minister added, with 135,000 business events visitors from the USA spending $814m last year in Australia.
“Australia is strongly perceived around the world as a high-quality destination for business events, with our natural environment, beautiful fresh produce and excellent business events facilities all combining to give us a significant competitive advantage,” said Ciobo.
The US series of events have been showcasing Australian wine to key North American business events decision-makers, with Australia’s world-class food and wine a huge part of the country’s destination appeal to international visitors.
