8566.0 - Business Events Venues Industry, Australia, 2000-01  
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 07/06/2002   
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MEDIA RELEASE

June 7, 2002
Embargoed 11:30am (AEST)
63/2002

Large business events generate $655 million in income

Figures from the first census of large business events venues conducted by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) show that the 121 venues with capacity for over 500 delegates generated income of $655 million (m) during 2000-01.

Of these 121 businesses, 13 were convention/exhibition businesses and 108 were other business events venues, such as accommodation, casinos and showground businesses.

They contained 1,495 lettable rooms with event floor space of 657,011 square metres. During 2000-01, 51,557 meetings and conferences and 4,227 exhibitions were conducted in these venues.

Of the total income of $655m, the 13 convention/exhibition businesses contributed $169m and the other business events venues generated the remaining $486m. The largest component of income was $302m from food and beverage service($67 million for convention and exhibition businesses and $235m for other event venue businesses).

Total expenses for the business event venues were $421m. Convention and exhibition businesses had expenses of $179m and other business events venues had expenses of $242m. Half of the total expenses were accounted for by labour costs of $210m.

The industry employed 10,347 people at the end of June 2001, of whom, 76% were casuals. Casuals worked an average of 4.8 million hours during 2000-01.

During 2000-01, there were 82,059 events held in businesses covered in the survey, which attracted 21 million delegate/attendee days. Most (73%) meetings and conferences held in convention and exhibition businesses had a local focus, with 19% having a national focus and 8% having an international focus.

Most businesses involved in the scope of the collection were concentrated in New South Wales and Queensland, accounting for 29% and 21% of all businesses respectively.

Details are in Business Events Venues Industry, Australia 2000-2001 (cat. no. 8566.0).