Next May is shaping up as arguably the biggest month on Brisbane’s 2025 events calendar, headlined by the southern hemisphere’s largest trucking event, the 2025 Brisbane Truck Show from May 15-18.
The show at the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre will be held as part of Truck Week 25, a new week-long festival of all things trucking.
After a record crowd in 2023, Truck Show organisers are anticipating another big turnout in 2025, fuelled by several new activations planned as part of Truck Week 25, including the Heavy Equipment and Machinery Show at the RNA Showgrounds and the Heritage Truck Show at Rocklea.
Todd Hacking, CEO of event organiser Heavy Vehicle Industry Australia (HVIA), said Truck Week 25 – to be held from May 12-18 – will feature exciting new activations, including the first-ever National Show ‘N’ Shine Championship, with as many as 28 of Australia’s best blinged-up trucks competing for the crown of the nation’s best. The showcase will be staged at Little Stanley Street at South Bank and will be open to the general public.
An added attraction in 2025 will be the Premier Boxing Series to be staged at the South Bank Piazza on the Friday and Saturday nights of the show. Telecast on the Seven Network, the series will feature six bouts involving elite amateur and professional boxers each night, culminating in a title bout.
What’s more, in 2025 several thousand school students will flock to The Depot, a new interactive zone just outside the show at TAFE Queensland’s South Bank campus lawn which will feature an awesome array of interactive displays, cutting-edge simulators and other engaging activities aimed at showcasing careers in the heavy vehicle industry.
Speaking at yesterday’s official launch of Truck Week 25 (formerly Australian Heavy Vehicle Industry Week) in Brisbane, Cr Sandy Landers, Brisbane City Council’s Deputy Chair of the Economic Development, Nighttime Economy and 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games Committee, said the Truck Show alone is expected to attract more than 40,000 industry players to the city.
Exhibition space for the 2025 show – the only event to fill all 30,000+ square metres of the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre – is already sold out.
Cr Landers said that in 2023 the show attracted 42,855 over four days, an all-time record for the 56-year old event, with more than 36 per cent coming from interstate and nearly six per cent from overseas.
In a boon for local businesses, they generated an incredible 92,982 visitor nights in Queensland, with overseas visitors spending an above-average 6.7 nights in the city, interstate visitors staying an average of 4.3 nights and intrastate visitors staying an average of 3.4 nights.
They’re also big spenders, with interstate visitors spending an average of $363.89 a day, followed by overseas visitors at $342.91 – for an estimated total $31.58 million spend by overnight visitors from outside of Greater Brisbane.
Brisbane Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner said the Brisbane Truck Show would drive a massive economic boost for Brisbane next May.
“As Australia’s lifestyle capital, our major events calendar is a great drawcard for businesses and visitors to come and invest in Brisbane,” he said.
“Year after year, the Brisbane Truck Show brings big economic benefits to our city, with the 2023 event attracting over 42,000 people and injecting $31.5 million into the local economy.
“We hope people here for the Truck Show stay to enjoy our vibrant lifestyle precincts and unique tourism offerings, all while supporting our local businesses.”
Hacking said the response to the show’s strategic expansion into a week-long trucking festival has been “fantastic”.
“We are extremely grateful to the Queensland Government and the City of Brisbane for coming on board to enable this initiative to come to life.
“They recognise that the Brisbane Truck Show is a vital Queensland business, tourism and cultural asset, recognised internationally amongst the world’s leading industry business events.”
Queensland’s Assistant Minister for Finance, Trade, Employment and Training, Amanda Stoker, said Truck Week 25 not only delivers a boost to the city’s tourism sector, but also plays a key role in promoting career opportunities in the state’s innovative heavy vehicle industry.
“Truck Week recognises the incredible contribution the heavy vehicle industry makes to our state by connecting all corners of Queensland,” Stoker said.
“With more than 600,000 registered trucks in Australia driven more than 250 billion tonne kilometres each year, supported by more than 70,000 heavy vehicle industry employees, it’s vital we can continue to support the industry by delivering quality training and a strong workforce.
Stocker said the Depot Careers Hub at TAFE Queensland’s South Bank campus will be a Truck Week highlight, providing cyber security, graphic design and augmented reality welding demonstrations, and an insight into exciting careers not often considered for this industry.
“With a huge line-up of trucks, trailers and technology it will no doubt encourage more jobseekers to take up a heavy vehicle driver or mechanical apprenticeship.
“The Crisafulli Government is proud to support the Brisbane Truck Show. I look forward to celebrating the industry and showcasing the training and great jobs on offer during Truck Week 2025.”
Filling out the bumper May events calendar in Brisbane are the Australian Tourism Exchange (ATE25), the Australian tourism industry’s largest annual business-to-business event; the most anticipated (and attended) rugby league round of the year, the 2025 NRL Magic Round; and even British-Irish crooner Chris de Burgh.