WA businesses urged to apply for federal funding to support local business events.
Business events in Western Australia will get a much-needed boost, with the opening of applications for the Federal Government’s AUD50 million (USD38.5 million) Business Events Grants Program.
Twenty Western Australian business events have made it onto the approved schedule of business events, part of the Business Events Grants Program, which offers between AUD10,000 and AUD250,000 to offset the cost for delegates and exhibitors to attend and present at pre-approved business events.
Business Events Perth Chief Executive Gareth Martin urged local exhibitors and delegates to apply for the funding, saying it would provide welcome relief to the business event sector.
“As we all know, the COVID pandemic has caused monumental challenges to the business events industry, with gathering restrictions and the inability for international and interstate visitors to come to WA, sparking widespread postponements and cancellations of events over the past 12 months,” Mr Martin said.
“By reducing the cost for buyers and sellers to meet, connect and collaborate at a business event, this program is not just aiding in the recovery of the events sector, it’s also stimulating increased activity in the business events supply chain.”
He also said that supporting local business events would have far-reaching benefits.
“Business events are a huge economic contributor to the local economy. Conferences and exhibitions provide opportunities for many local businesses such as caterers, photographers, hire companies, audio-visual and staging personnel. They also attract high-yielding business visitors that stay in Perth’s hotels and dine at our cafes and restaurants,” Mr Martin said.
“The Business Events Grants Program will be instrumental in kick-starting Western Australia’s business events sector, with generous grants available to cover up to 50 per cent of costs incurred as part of participating in a pre-approved business event.”
Grants are available to Australian businesses to participate as buyers or sellers at pre-approved exhibitions, conferences and conventions held before 31 December 2021.
Applications are now open and close on March 30 at 5 pm AEDT. Apply here.
To see the list of approved Western Australian business events, click here.
More information on the fund can be found here.
Before the onset of the pandemic, Australia’s business events sector was estimated to worth AUD35 billion in direct economic impact to the national economy, with Western Australia’s share worth about AUD2.5 billion.
Mr Martin said Business Events Perth’s Event Here Now campaign had supported 110 local business events since it was launched in August 2020.
“Through our Event Here Now initiative, Business Events Perth is offering up to $30,000 in sponsorship to local business events, and this programme has been hugely successful, bringing together more than 56,000 delegates to connect and collaborate in person,” Mr Martin said.
Featured image by Fadzai Saungweme on Unsplash.
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