Organisers announce cancellation of 2024 Art of Attraction Tourism Summit

Announcing that registrations had “not been strong enough”, the organisers of the 2024 Art of Attraction Tourism Summit, due to be held scheduled for just over a fortnight’s time on the Sunshine Coast, have announced its cancellation.

Due to be held at The Events Centre Caloundra from 6th to 8th March, the Summit and its associated events had planned to explore the role of public art, including mural towns and silo art trails, in boosting visitation from mature-age domestic travellers and art-loving travellers.

However, this morning’s announcement from the organisers advised “ticket sales/registrations have not been strong enough to hold the conference and everyone who has bought tickets will be automatically refunded for their full ticket or registration fee.

“This has not been an easy decision, but the ticketing and resulting financial picture made this the only option available to us.

“Many, many hundreds of hours of work has been invested in organising this conference and gala awards night - by us and by our speakers and presenters, and it pains us to have come all this way without making it over the finishing line.

“This is especially true given past delegates and speakers, plus current awards nominees, urged us to produce the 2024 Art of Attraction Tourism Summit and associated gala.

“As a result, we were looking forward to this educational celebration, recognising it as a time for regional and rural Australia to come together with metropolitan tourism and art professionals to learn from each other and share successes.

“We understand that times are tough due to extreme weather events, tightening of belts, resourcing challenges and flight unreliability in regional Australia all adding to an uneasy sense of insecurity. Like all other organisations, Awards Absolute is not immune to the impact of these vagrancies, nor to the lack of sponsorship uptake.

“That having been said, we want to give a ‘huge shout out’ to everyone who supported the 2024 Art of Attraction and awards night when they agreed to speak, purchased tickets or embarked on sponsorship. We owe each of you a massive thank you. Your enthusiasm and support is humbling, and your dedication proved invaluable.”

Organisers made two additional acknowledgments, “firstly to Portable Creations, which have supported us to a huge degree in this endeavour. It is shattering to know that the spectacular stage sets that they created, including for the gala dinner from Man.De street artist’s design, will not see the light of day in 2024.

“Secondly, to mural artist Steven Bordonaro who graciously allowed us to use his design for marketing and the resulting unique ‘paint your own’ conference satchel (see image below) that we had produced.”

Next Steps
The organisers added “if you are a ticket holder/have registered for the Summit or Awards Gala then your refund will be processed automatically over the coming week. If you paid by bank transfer we will reach out to you over the coming days for details.

“Australian Street Art Awards finalists and Grey Nomad Awards finalists will be contacted about winner announcements.

“A review and analysis of the Art of Attraction Tourism Summit, Australian Street Art Awards and Grey Nomad Awards will be undertaken in due course.

“We remain committed to helping regional and rural Australia through the provision of services and recognition that is not typically or easily accessible.”

Image: The Events Centre Caloundra which was to have hosted the Summit.