Hon Greg Smith asks about the economic contribution of the meeting and convention industry. Hon N.F. Moore responds with statistics on growth, financial impact, employment, and delegate expenditure, highlighting WA's potential with improved facilities.

AnsweredQoN 522Legislative Council
Asked
22 November 2000
Portfolio
Tourism

QuestionView source ↗

A recent article in the National Business Bulletin outlined the economic contribution of the meeting and convention industry. Will the minister please provide to the House some statistics relating to employment, financial contribution to the economy and the growth of this industry? Hon N.F. MOORE

AnswerView source ↗

I thank the member for some notice of this question. This report is very interesting. This industry is growing at about 30 per cent per annum and has been doing so since 1992. That makes it the fastest growing and most lucrative segment of tourism. We are looking at a sector in Australia which generates $6b through meetings alone, and a further $1b through exhibition attendees. That figure accounts for almost 1 per cent of gross domestic product and generates $1b a year in export earnings. Approximately 85 000 people, representing 1 per cent of total Australian employment, is represented in one or the other of those industry sectors. Expenditure by delegates is very interesting. On average, each delegate spends $529 but this varies considerably depending on travel arrangements. Local delegates spend only $138, versus day trip delegates who spend $250. Domestic overnight trippers spend $1 143, with an almost certainly extended conference timetable. However, international delegates spend a solid $4 429 while in this country on conferences and tourism. There is no doubt that this section of the tourism industry is growing very rapidly. Western Australia presently has about 10 per cent of the nation’s business, which is roughly equivalent to the Western Australian proportion of the population. However, it is well behind New South Wales and Queensland, which have convention and exhibition facilities superior to those in Western Australia. There is no doubt that once a dedicated convention-exhibition centre has been built in Western Australia, our proportion of the national conference market will significantly increase. That will be a very positive contribution to the Western Australian economy.
Hon N.F. MOORE replied: I thank the member for some notice of this question. This report is very interesting. This industry is growing at about 30 per cent per annum and has been doing so since 1992. That makes it the fastest growing and most lucrative segment of tourism. We are looking at a sector in Australia which generates $6b through meetings alone, and a further $1b through exhibition attendees. That figure accounts for almost 1 per cent of gross domestic product and generates $1b a year in export earnings. Approximately 85 000 people, representing 1 per cent of total Australian employment, is represented in one or the other of those industry sectors. Expenditure by delegates is very interesting. On average, each delegate spends $529 but this varies considerably depending on travel arrangements. Local delegates spend only $138, versus day trip delegates who spend $250. Domestic overnight trippers spend $1 143, with an almost certainly extended conference timetable. However, international delegates spend a solid $4 429 while in this country on conferences and tourism. There is no doubt that this section of the tourism industry is growing very rapidly. Western Australia presently has about 10 per cent of the nation’s business, which is roughly equivalent to the Western Australian proportion of the population. However, it is well behind New South Wales and Queensland, which have convention and exhibition facilities superior to those in Western Australia. There is no doubt that once a dedicated convention-exhibition centre has been built in Western Australia, our proportion of the national conference market will significantly increase. That will be a very positive contribution to the Western Australian economy.
I thank the member for some notice of this question. This report is very interesting. This industry is growing at about 30 per cent per annum and has been doing so since 1992. That makes it the fastest growing and most lucrative segment of tourism. We are looking at a sector in Australia which generates $6b through meetings alone, and a further $1b through exhibition attendees. That figure accounts for almost 1 per cent of gross domestic product and generates $1b a year in export earnings. Approximately 85 000 people, representing 1 per cent of total Australian employment, is represented in one or the other of those industry sectors. Expenditure by delegates is very interesting. On average, each delegate spends $529 but this varies considerably depending on travel arrangements. Local delegates spend only $138, versus day trip delegates who spend $250. Domestic overnight trippers spend $1 143, with an almost certainly extended conference timetable. However, international delegates spend a solid $4 429 while in this country on conferences and tourism. There is no doubt that this section of the tourism industry is growing very rapidly. Western Australia presently has about 10 per cent of the nation’s business, which is roughly equivalent to the Western Australian proportion of the population. However, it is well behind New South Wales and Queensland, which have convention and exhibition facilities superior to those in Western Australia. There is no doubt that once a dedicated convention-exhibition centre has been built in Western Australia, our proportion of the national conference market will significantly increase. That will be a very positive contribution to the Western Australian economy.
This report is very interesting. This industry is growing at about 30 per cent per annum and has been doing so since 1992. That makes it the fastest growing and most lucrative segment of tourism. We are looking at a sector in Australia which generates $6b through meetings alone, and a further $1b through exhibition attendees. That figure accounts for almost 1 per cent of gross domestic product and generates $1b a year in export earnings. Approximately 85 000 people, representing 1 per cent of total Australian employment, is represented in one or the other of those industry sectors. Expenditure by delegates is very interesting. On average, each delegate spends $529 but this varies considerably depending on travel arrangements. Local delegates spend only $138, versus day trip delegates who spend $250. Domestic overnight trippers spend $1 143, with an almost certainly extended conference timetable. However, international delegates spend a solid $4 429 while in this country on conferences and tourism. There is no doubt that this section of the tourism industry is growing very rapidly. Western Australia presently has about 10 per cent of the nation’s business, which is roughly equivalent to the Western Australian proportion of the population. However, it is well behind New South Wales and Queensland, which have convention and exhibition facilities superior to those in Western Australia. There is no doubt that once a dedicated convention-exhibition centre has been built in Western Australia, our proportion of the national conference market will significantly increase. That will be a very positive contribution to the Western Australian economy.

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