The City of Busselton, Western Australia’s major event calendar has doubled in the last two years after it announced in 2012 that it would strive to become the events capital of regional WA.
In the last 12 months more than 80 major sporting, cultural and community events were staged across the city, including a growing number of high profile events.
These events, which include Ironman WA, CinefestOz, Oz Rock Busselton, Southbound, the Quit Forest Rally and the upcoming Red Bull Wings for Life Run, attracted thousands of people to the City and generated a significant income.
Much of this success can be attributed to a model developed by the city specifically designed to grow large events.
City of Busselton Mayor Ian Stubbs said that Council’s decision to introduce a differential rating system in 2012 was a strategic move that is now paying dividends for the community.
“Around $420,000 is collected annually through this rates scheme, and we estimate that around $45m is returned to the local economy each year through the event calendar.
“Of course some of these events were well established before the introduction of the differential rates scheme but over the last two years our events calendar has literally doubled.”
On the back of this broad success come significant event milestones.
In January this year the Festival of Busselton celebrated its 50th anniversary.
The City also recently hosted its 10th annual Southbound concert, the 10th Ironman WA event and the Quit Forest Rally celebrates its 15th year in Busselton.
Next year promises an equally memorable line-up with a major event planned to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the Busselton Jetty, with the Busselton
Jetty Swim celebrating 20 years and Ironman Busselton celebrating 15 years.
