Robin Mack, Executive General Manager – Commercial & Business Events Australia, Tourism Australia, shares that Indian market has largely recovered post-pandemic in numbers and is already ahead in spend as compared to 2019 figures.
Nisha Verma
Adelaide was buzzing with energy as it hosted Dreamtime 2023, Business Events Australia’s signature incentive showcase, which was held after a gap of four years, owing to the global pandemic. MICE operators and event planners from India attended the event alongside the delegations from Greater China, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, South Korea, Japan, New Zealand, North America and UK, to reconnect with Australian industry sellers. From 2024, the event will be called Australia Next and will be held annually. The next edition is scheduled in Cairns.
4-year gap
Robin Mack revealed that since the last Dreamtime in December 2019, held at Perth, there has been a lot of unprecedented infrastructure development across the country. “Around 200 new hotels have opened across the country during that time, with 20,000 beds being put into the system, which is a good thing,” he said, insisting that events like Dreamtime work for the industry and leads coming for it.
“In 2017, Dreamtime was held in Brisbane. Around 200 business leads came from the event and 73 of those converted into business worth $50 million. Even from Dreamtime 2019 in Perth, 36 business leads worth $97 million were generated in a short window of time.
India a priority
Claiming that India is an important market for Australia, Mack said, “India’s connection to major events, particularly cricket events, is full of passion and enthusiasm. Thus, the travel and incentive group travel around them is different than some of the other markets. Besides, we get huge VFR traffic from India too and we are seeing great potential and demand from incentive sector as well. Connectivity plays a huge role in this, driven by the appeal for Australia.
“In the quarter Apr-Jun 2023 v/s Apr-Jun 2019, Indian visitors for business events went 73% back and it’s growing faster than some markets. The spend is 91% back. However, leisure is already 100% back to pre-pandemic numbers,” he informed.
Meet India demand
Commenting on how Australia is well-equipped to cater Indian travellers, he shared, “We are blessed as a destination to have fantastic DMCs which personalise and meet the objectives of an incentive planner. We have a dedicated team that supports incentives and assists in visa process, trying to expedite and make it easy.”
Acknowledging that Indian incentive planners prefer major cities in Australia like Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide, he said that they are also looking at regional areas.
Incentives for groups
To attract more Indian groups, Business Events Australia offers incentives too. “We have a Bid Fund Program, in existence since 2018, which supports partners in Australia to convert the business and win event bids. It gives us a strong pipeline for events in the future. We are accepting applications till 2029. We work with the bureaus and the centres in helping them convert that business and supporting them in their bid process,” he shared.
Trade engagements
Business Events Australia has a resourceful website with planning tools, tips, destination insights and fact sheets.
“We launched a campaign in March 2022 called, ‘There’s Nothing Like Australia For Business Events’. We offer true partnership, right from the bid process till the end,” he concluded.
“We are blessed as a destination to have fantastic DMCs which personalise and meet the objectives of an incentive planner”
Robin Mack, Executive General Manager – Commercial
