Isolation Blog #1 Destination Assets

PREAMBLE

I was inspired by my last conference of the year in mid-March 2020, just as the limit of indoor gatherings came in at 100 people, half-way through the event. That was less than 6 weeks ago before social distancing and groups of two were the new parameters. The conference was the Local Government NSW Tourism Conference 2020, which introduced me to a passionate group of individuals concerned about their local communities. My role together with fellow panellists was to deliver knowledge through our expertise on the topic ‘Capitalising on Business Events’, to engage the representatives of Local Government in attracting Business Events to their destination.

Sunrise over Lake Jindabyne NSW photo David Addison 19 March 2020

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As the drought, fires and floods dissipated in most rural areas, there were pledges made through state tourism bodies from organisations to hold their events in rural areas affected by these natural disasters. Business events planned through this initiative were soon postponed as the impact of COVID-19 restrictions hit hard on the events, hospitality and tourism industries.

So, in the current situation we find ourselves, self-isolating and most of us working from home [the new abbreviated WFH], there is time to conduct critical planning for life after ‘Rona’ however that may materialise.

“The best way to predict the future is to create it.”

Peter Drucker 2009

The Business Events Council of Australia [BECA] is active, together with the federal government, co-developing a COVID-19 Business Events Response and Recovery Framework, to be released soon. It is a two-pronged initiative with a response phase and recovery phase.

The Recovery (rebound and growth) component is about research, marketing, promotion and facilitation. Within this framework is a key component to improve Business Events metrics “that enhance the national and international visitor surveys for business events, complemented by investing in robust aggregated and segmented data capability”. This combined with a previously released BECA strategy to create a “A national infrastructure mapping study, to identify the gaps and priorities for business events infrastructure in metro and regional areas”, bodes well as an action strategy for both urban and regional destinations in these reflective and idle times.

I strongly believe that destinations need to focus on how they will be able to attract a growth in the visitor economy and more importantly business events as the market reopens, post-COVID19 restrictions.

As I reflect on the public health epidaemiological modelling for COVID-19 it makes me contemplate what type of modelling would work best in the Business Events [BE] sector of the MICE industry?

For a successful take-up of BE in Australia we need to be prepared, and for a good part the work of BECA and its industry partners are working strongly to achieve this aim. It also requires a focus within the community of the destinations with a BE capacity to now create compelling arguments to attract and deliver BE in their destination.

It requires advocacy and thought leadership to prevail within Australian urban and rural destinations for them to be, if not ready, then at least prepared through suitable planning and strategies.

Infrastructure spending, which creates economic growth, may be the primary government instrument to fight a COVID-19 recession. One would hope it is not just roads, bridges, tunnels and renewable energy facilities, but that bushfire-drought-flood related infrastructure relief, wildlife habitats, national parks and tourism related programs are adopted and financed.

It is critical therefore for destinations to identify how their infrastructure can be improved to best attract the visitor economy and business events to their local community. So destinations first need to know what assets and capability they have, what services exist to deliver BE and what BE audience their services best suit.

As a word of caution, it would be ill advised to build a large conference centre when the accommodation couldn’t cope with the delegate numbers, or when there is already a community centre that could be upgraded to achieve the same outcome.

When will the visitor economy re-emerge, and by whom?

It would be logical to assume that the within-state and between state travel would precede international visitation. Perhaps the TransTasman Bubble Concept will open tourism, business travel and BE from New Zealand, and visa-versa. The rest of the world is likely to open slower and international arrivals for tourism and attending conferences may take 12-18 months or more. Corporate incentives and BE as well as government meetings and conferences, may be expected to precede association conferences.

I believe that there is an urgent need for regional Australia to adopt an audit mentality to identify what they have and what they need to attract BE into their destination. I recommend that destinations identify who their ‘visitor economy’ audience is, what BE they would like to attract, where the resources are within the community to deliver and how they’re going to achieve the outcome they want. Then apply for government infrastructure funding.

As a start consider the below table, and ask for expert assistance to work your way through a planned approach ie;

· identifying what BE related stakeholders’ products and services exist,

· where you should focus your attention

· collate the results and prioritise the planning

· decide what is the best way to implement infrastructure development

· research, prioritise, review, reconsider, propose, act.