AACB pledges its ‘industry value’ research will make a business case for government
MICEBTN archive stories issue 54
Thursday, 27 February 2014
NEW research focused on the industry’s value to the community has been given a 2014 priority by the Association of Australian Convention Bureaux (AACB).
“The ‘value of business events’ update with the Tourism and Transport Forum (TTF) via the Business Events Council of Australia (BECA) last year and our own business events review with Deloitte made it clear we have too many methodologies representing our sector,” said executive AACB director Andrew Hiebl.
“We still rely on the National Business Events Study (NBES) of some 10 years ago as an integral platform, but major BE industry stakeholders also produce their own studies for local political purposes.
“If we are to engage with our new conservative government, we need a strong, (unified) business case. That is why AACB will be working with BECA to deliver new research aimed at valuing the sector’s economic benefit through its TQUAL grant funding program.
“The whole industry needs to get behind this initiative,” he declared.
The AACB with Deloitte Access Economics now will implement a newly-developed system - making the research and resulting reports more relevant and informative to government and the industry as a whole.
Hiebl also moved to clarify some of the claims made by Belinda Moore, chief executive of the Australasian Society of Association Executives concerning convention bureaux ‘being reliant mainly on membership fees and hampering the ability of CVBs to effective achieve their core purpose’.
Hiebl said he agreed about the future of membership, but not about all statements relating to convention bureaux.
“No member of the AACB is ‘mainly’ reliant on membership fees. Most funding for bureaux comes from a combination of state and local governments, with 100 per cent of the Northern Territory Convention Bureau’s funding coming from the Territory.
“Nevertheless, industry membership is important for convention bureaux and tourism organisations alike. It is important for government to know industry backs its investment in tourism and business events through additional industry contributions, e.g. membership, sponsorship, co-operative marketing and in-kind supply of products and services,” said Hiebl.
Membership, he said, can also highlight those operators that are most active in a sector.
AACB pledges its ‘industry value’ research will make a business case for government
MICEBTN archive stories issue 54
Thursday, 27 February 2014
NEW research focused on the industry’s value to the community has been given a 2014 priority by the Association of Australian Convention Bureaux (AACB).
“The ‘value of business events’ update with the Tourism and Transport Forum (TTF) via the Business Events Council of Australia (BECA) last year and our own business events review with Deloitte made it clear we have too many methodologies representing our sector,” said executive AACB director Andrew Hiebl.
“We still rely on the National Business Events Study (NBES) of some 10 years ago as an integral platform, but major BE industry stakeholders also produce their own studies for local political purposes.
“If we are to engage with our new conservative government, we need a strong, (unified) business case. That is why AACB will be working with BECA to deliver new research aimed at valuing the sector’s economic benefit through its TQUAL grant funding program.
“The whole industry needs to get behind this initiative,” he declared.
The AACB with Deloitte Access Economics now will implement a newly-developed system - making the research and resulting reports more relevant and informative to government and the industry as a whole.
Hiebl also moved to clarify some of the claims made by Belinda Moore, chief executive of the Australasian Society of Association Executives concerning convention bureaux ‘being reliant mainly on membership fees and hampering the ability of CVBs to effective achieve their core purpose’.
Hiebl said he agreed about the future of membership, but not about all statements relating to convention bureaux.
“No member of the AACB is ‘mainly’ reliant on membership fees. Most funding for bureaux comes from a combination of state and local governments, with 100 per cent of the Northern Territory Convention Bureau’s funding coming from the Territory.
“Nevertheless, industry membership is important for convention bureaux and tourism organisations alike. It is important for government to know industry backs its investment in tourism and business events through additional industry contributions, e.g. membership, sponsorship, co-operative marketing and in-kind supply of products and services,” said Hiebl.
Membership, he said, can also highlight those operators that are most active in a sector.
