meetings-international 26

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
“Our approach utilises the meetings and
conventions industry as a catalyst to
help grow Canada's economy”
food harvesting programs such as the
Oceanwise sustainable seafood program
and even entire communities
such as Montréal which is certified as
a sustainable host city.
“Our government is focused on the
growing demand for our resources
that can be met without compromising
the environmental, social,
economic and cultural needs of
current and future generations, the
same holds for our business events
communities. Our goal is to support
destinations in growing their share of
business events in a sustainable way.”
International business events
delegates spend, on average, 20–25
per cent more than other foreign visitors.
International business delegates
have grown at twice the pace of overall
visitation over the last four years,
while expenditure has increased five
times faster.
The business events sector also
claims that economic activity well
beyond directly measurable metrics,
underpinning knowledge creation
and exchange, innovation and
investment, among other positive
impacts, economic value referred to
as “beyond tourism” benefits. International
business events bring global
expertise, and world-best practises
to Canada. How important is this for
your country?
“The legacy benefits of business
events is at the heart of our business
development strategy. Part of what
we are doing at is measuring the
economic impact of business events
so that we can fully understand their
true value to Canada's economy.”
Leading innovators in advanced
sectors have a role to play in driving
the future of business events' longterm
economic growth and helping to
create resilient communities.
“Providing access to Canadian
knowledge and expertise is the best
value proposition we know of to drive
the future of business events and
foster long-term economic growth.
Canada is not alone in applying an
economic sector strategy to their
business event attraction, but our
strategy is one of the world's largest in
scale and scope.”
Business Events Canada work
with their destination partners
on a monthly pace report which
tracks definite events, delegate
numbers, and the direct spending
associated with events held in their
jurisdictions.
“As part of our Response-Recovery-Resilience
approach to the
Covid-19 pandemic, we report on
the economic impact of lost business
events.”
The latest impact report published
in September shows that of
the business events planned between
2020 and 2026, Destination Canada
estimates that the total losses to the
sector since the start of the Covid-19
pandemic include 3,668 events, 1.55
million delegates and nearly $1.31 billions
in direct spending.
These losses include both definite
and tentative events. International
events lost represent 27 per cent of
this total with more than 594,000
delegates and nearly $781.28 million
in direct spending.
“You can see from these statistics
the economic impact business events
have on Canada's economy.
“Strong networks and even
stronger relationships are critical to
our success. We take a Team Canada
approach with our economic sector
strategy by collaborating with our
network of 27 destination partners
and their economic development
agencies to identify each jurisdiction's
leading economic sectors and
their unique value propositions.
“As part of this process, we have
developed a suite of collateral for the
economic sectors which spotlight
our leading destinations and their
24 | MEETINGS INTERNATIONAL | BIR No. 26 2020