The following is some brief
extracts from MIAA's
submission to the Working
Group established by the
Minister for Tourism &
Small Business, Joe Hockey,
to develop a 10 Year Plan.
For a full copy of the
submission, refer to
www.miaanet.com.au.
The meetings industry and the business event in
general is much more than just an adjunct of
tourism. The meetings industry is in the
communications industry - the `business' end of
the tourism or hospitality industries.
In terms of Australia's economic health, as
well as its standing in the international
community, a successful meetings and events
industry will mean much more than tourist
dollars. We have a fantastic opportunity to
attract attendance at various Australian
conferences and events such people of influence
as world political and business leaders,
commercial buyers, scientific and academic
experts, environmentalists, professionals and
many other prominent individuals and
corporations. The ongoing benefits of such an
opportunity are enormous. If we continue to
only measure the importance of meetings and
events in tourist dollar terms, then we are
losing sight of the enormous benefit that a
successful world summit or multinational
corporate business retreat can do for Australia.
Business events is as much or even more
about trade and our status as a good
international citizen, as it is about tourist
dollars.
Taxation: At the end 2001, the Federal
Government released a final ruling dealing with
contra relationships for the purpose of the GST.
Early in 2002 the non-monetary consideration
ruling was followed up by a draft ruling dealing
with prizes.
If these GST rulings are allowed to stand,
they will have serious ramifications for the
industry. The meetings and events industry is
In a great show of unity,
leading associations
representing the business
events industry including
the Business Events Council
of Australia (BECA), the
Association of Australian
Convention Bureaux (AACB)
and MIAA, have called for a
separate body to be set up
by the Federal Government
to promote and support the
business events industry.
In their recent submissions to the Federal
Government, BECA, MIAA and the AACB have
stressed the importance of the business events
industry not just in terms of its tourism value,
but also in terms of the contribution to
business, social, academic and scientific
endeavour.
Chief Executive of MIAA, Jenny Lambert,
said that it was now up to the industry to back
up its calls with a continuation of the unity
shown to date on this issue, and by the evidence
of what can be achieved by Australia with a
strong business events industry. This strength
comes not just from attracting more
international clients to hold their events here,
but also by maximising the business benefits of
sporting and cultural events, and also
encouraging Australian businesses to hold their
events within Australia.
MIAA's tourism submission covered many
other important issues,
including the
importance of sound research and forecasts,
and also the need to continue strong funding
support for the ATC.
"The business events industry's support for
a separate authority should not be seen as a
reduction in support for the valuable role the
ATC plays particularly in leisure tourism," Ms
Lambert said.
"The business events industry
fundamentally relies on hotels, transport,
attractions and other important tourism
sectors to deliver the service to the business
client. This tourism infrastructure needs both
leisure and business customers to be
sustainable. The ATC has shown over the years
that its ability to attract leisure tourists to this
country is of a world class standard."
This issue of Meetings in mice.net contains
extracts from the MIAA submission. For a full
copy of the MIAA and BECA submissions, and
a copy of the main questions posed by the
Government's discussion paper, please refer to
the MIAA website at www.miaanet.com.au
Business Events Industry Seeks
Specialist Body
meetings
meetings
issue no.19 August 2002
MIAA submission to 10-year
Tourism plan disscussion paper
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