Restaurant & Catering Australia (R&CA) has welcomed the Commonwealth Government’s announcement of a $12 million investment over three years to establish the Boosting Business Events Bid Fund. R&CA is the peak industry body representing 45,000 cafes, restaurants and catering businesses across Australia, ensuring owners and operators within the hospitality industry remain profitable and sustainable.
The establishment of a multi-million dollar national business events fund was one of R&CA’s key policy priorities arising out of its 2018-19 Pre-Budget Submission and was also strongly recommended by other industry stakeholders. R&CA CEO Juliana Payne said that labour intensive service sectors such as cafés and restaurants would experience considerable economic flow on effects from a rise in international business delegates, given that these travelers spend significantly more money during their stay compared to others.
“The economic flow on effects from an influx of international business delegates is particularly valuable for café and restaurant businesses, given that the average spend amongst these travellers is 21 per cent higher than other international visitors, according to a Deloitte Access Economics report published in 2014,” Ms Payne said.
“The spend from international tourists on food and drink items over the 2017 calendar year was approximately $6 billion, according to the International Visitor Survey (IVS) results released yesterday and we’d expect this figure to be even higher once the full benefits of the Government’s new Boosting Events Bid Fund program are realised.
“We are delighted at the Commonwealth Government’s initiative to attract future international conventions which will not only bring increased expenditure and more jobs, but will also allow our amazing café and restaurant sector the opportunity to showcase itself to the rest of the world.”
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