Before looking at the Australian event industry it is a good idea to examine the scale of the industry - is it big enough to warrant the expense of product research and development. As yet there are no known estimation of what the event industry is worth to Australia. However we can come at it obliquely. Dr J. Goldblatt quotes a study by Losourdo of 24 'professional trade associations whose members derive revenue from professional events'.
Events are indeed big business.
This is well recognised by the various Australian state governments. Most of the states have an arm of the government that promotes events. EventsCorp in West Australia was one of the earliest. It was established in 1986 as a result of the America's Cup. The studies of the economic impact of events illustrate why governments are so interested in fostering them.