Business is booming! SA reaps a $2.5bn surge in corporate events after the Covid collapse
Covid stalled Adelaide’s conventions sector but it has now recovered to pre-pandemic highs, with a lucrative “tail” wagging long after the actual conferences end.
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South Australia’s $2.5bn business events sector is back along with the lucrative “tail” delivering future jobs growth.
After collapsing when the pandemic hit then limping along as video events, the sector is storming with benefits extending far beyond the actual conference or convention.
Business Events Adelaide chief executive Damien Kitto said demand is so strong that if there is call for an event at short notice, he has to hunt around for members who might have capacity to host it.
“That is a good problem to have,” he said. “Business events absolutely are back – 2023 will be bigger than 2019 and because of the volume and scale, I’d say the $2.5bn pre-pandemic figure would be achieved this year and potentially grow in 2024.”
Business Events Adelaide has more than 100 events generating $250m in economic value locked in for this year, and a pipeline of events worth $650m to 2025.
The sector also has other participants which run events such the Property Council, Committee for Economic Development of Australia, Urban Development Institute of Australia, Adelaide Economic Development Agency and AmCham.
International and interstate conference delegates spend an average of $600 a day, filling hotel rooms midweek and getting a taste of SA to return for a leisure holiday.
Adelaide’s appeal for international conferences range from weather and accessibility to political stability and convenience of venues to hotels and major sights.
However, Mr Kitto stressed it takes more than a nice town to convince major global players to “travel halfway around the world to attend an event.”
“We are aligning our work with the economic focus of the South Australian economy,” he said.
“We want the economic tail of holding a major event to continue to flow through the economy and industries for a long time afterwards, creating jobs.
“We have just announced we are hosting two key events which align with the state’s key sectors. The International Renewable Energy Conference will see more than 3000 global leaders in Adelaide talking about renewable energy, at a time the government is looking at hydrogen energy plans.”
Adelaide also has secured the leading international maritime, air and space technologies defence event, MAST Australia 2024, drawing thousands of delegates to “the defence state.”
As conventions fill hotels such as Eos by SkyCity, the ripple effect is jobs.
David Christian, SkyCity Australian chief operating officer, said with almost 1400 employees in the CBD, SkyCity supports local producers and suppliers.
“At the moment we have 110 roles at SkyCity available across food and beverage, marketing, spa and hotel,” he said. “As the Riverbank Precinct expands more roles will become available. We have outstanding upward mobility offerings, with some 40 per cent of roles filled internally.
“SkyCity’s committed to ensuring we employ a diverse range of people at all skill levels. We have an Inclusion Council which benefits our employees, with many from New Zealand, Samoa, India, China, Africa and Fiji, as well as obviously a large local workforce.”
The jobs spin-off has large ripples. Last financial year SkyCity Adelaide purchased more than 11,000L of milk, 10,000kg of beef, 40,000kg of chicken, 14,000 dozen oysters, 33,000L of juice, 99,000 bottles of wine and 95,000 loaves of bread from local suppliers.
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