Executive general manager of industry and business events at Tourism Australia, Sally Cope, outlines a strategy focused on regional dispersal and product narrative, while fresh data reveals robust international demand, a resilient pipeline, and an industry leaning heavily into a Team Australia approach
What sits at the top of your professional “to-do” list as you take the helm this year?
Alongside creating demand and converting demand for Australia, a major priority is expanding how we tell our product stories to our target audiences. We have rolled out a significant new focus on agritourism product via a dedicated section on Australia.com, showcasing 32 unique “food bowls” across the country – a theme that resonates with incentive groups too.
We are also heavily focused on regional dispersal; our data shows that 20 per cent of business events spend continues to land outside of the main metro cities – so we continue to showcase the depth and breadth of Australia’s diverse destination offering.
Looking back at recent performance, how did Australia’s business events landscape wrap up last year, and what is the current outlook?
The industry is feeling remarkably optimistic. When looking at our broader performance, out of our 16 priority leisure markets – most of which sit within the Asia-Pacific region – almost every single market posted growth, except India which has been flat.
Looking ahead, we do not foresee any downward trend in leads coming through. While we recognize that business events carry long lead times, we are noticing that incentive groups are booking much closer to their actual travel dates, a trend particularly prominent with our clients out of India.
With major ongoing global geopolitical tensions, have you seen a direct impact on event delivery?
We actually have not seen a slowdown in leads, and there is no immediate impact on our numbers. Anecdotally, we’ve even received a few leads regarding the relocation of events to alternative destinations, with some confirmed to be coming through to Australia.
The baseline international demand is there, and most people still want to travel internationally for business events. However, what we are monitoring closely is the impact that fluctuating flight costs might have on travel, and that behaviour varies significantly by individual market.
How is Business Events Australia actively supporting domestic suppliers and international buyers through these uncertain economic climates?
Our biggest tool right now is regular communication. We have been running fortnightly webinars for the Australian industry to provide a unified voice and clear reassurance using big-picture data. We have to be careful as an industry to stick to the facts, refer to the data, and ensure we do not talk ourselves into unfounded concerns.
For example, when you look at actual seat capacity, international aviation capacity to Australia is up and tracking strong. Our webinars are incredibly well-received because they present aggregated data from our surveys and insights provided directly by our industry partners regarding the leads they are securing. This directly informs our collective strategy.
Attracting business events is not just a government effort. How are you seeing the wider industry play its part?
It is a complete “Team Australia” approach. The industry gives us direct on-the-ground insights – such as what kinds of leads they are getting and if volumes are increasing – which we then aggregate and feed it back out to them. Beyond that, major case studies show how resilient international travel remains.
For instance, Julia Swanson (CEO of Melbourne Convention Bureau) highlighted the massive success of the Women Deliver conference. Held during a period of intense global uncertainty, it brought thousands of delegates from 130 countries to Melbourne, showcasing that the appetite for travel remains completely intact.
Looking at the upcoming calendar, what are some of the standout events defining Australia’s current trajectory?
We have an incredibly robust pipeline. A few major standouts include the Australian Data Centre World & AI Summit, heading to Melbourne in September, pulling in 1,000 association delegates, and the International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems is locked in for Sydney in October 2028, bringing 3,500 people.
Also announced at IMEX Frankfurt was the SITE Global Conference, confirmed to be hosted in Gold Coast, Australia for the very first time in 2028. We are also looking forward to Australia Next 2027, our premier regional incentive showcase, which will take place in Sydney.
