Avalon delivers the economic goods

This year's Australian International Airshow has delivered a multi-million dollar economic and tourist bonanza.

The figures are detailed in a report prepared by the National Institute of Economic and Industry Research in the months following last February's event.

Victoria received a gross economic benefit of $146.2 million and household incomes were boosted by $80.5 million.

The Airshow also created 2,000 full year equivalent employment positions.

The event had an extremely positive economic effect on its host city.

It increased Geelong's gross regional product by $22.1 million and generated 258 fulltime annual equivalent employment positions. The Airshow continued to attract visitors from home and abroad.

Of the 169, 251 visitations during the six day event, more than 38,000 were from interstate and more than 13,000 from overseas.

The vast majority were from Melbourne (93,000), Geelong (12,000) and regional Victoria (12,800).

Airshow CEO Ian Honnery said the figures bode extremely well for the future of the event.

"The pulling power of our event, both as aviation spectacular and as a world class trade show, remains extremely strong," he said.

"The fact that we continue to attract people from the four corners of the globe reflects our prestige and international standing."

In addition to direct economic impact, business deals worth more than $1.25 Billion were announced during and following the Airshow.

Transactions included the signing of the multi-million dollar OneSKY contract between Airservices Australia and the Australian arm of the French-based aerospace technology giant Thales as well as a number of other civil aviation, aerospace and defence deals.

Furthermore, participating companies and trade visitors were exposed to more than $4 Billion worth of defence contract opportunities.

Mr. Honnery said the Airshow and its associated Expo is a key driver for business development and economic growth in the aerospace and defence sector.

"By any standards we play an important and unique role supporting Australian industry and promoting local know how to the international marketplace," he said.

"As a not-for-profit organisation our mission is to provide a conduit between Australian technology innovators and service providers and the key international industry decision makers."

The Avalon-based event hosted 38 symposia and conferences that attracted more than two thousand delegates and speakers. These covered a range of defence, civil aviation, safety and scientific topics.

Further, more than a hundred official delegations, at senior military, industry and scientific level attended the event to inspect the latest technologies and seek new business liaisons.

"There is more to our event than just a world famous Airshow with its spectacular flying displays," Mr Honnery said.

"We're serious about the business of doing business, of bringing the world to Australia and taking Australia to the world".

 

Source:  AMDA