Tourism New Zealand Acting International Business Events Manager Anna Fennessy says, "It has been a very successful year for the business events sector. Tourism New Zealand has bid for 54 international conferences, with 23 successful bids since July 2014 - once again surpassing our annual targets." An additional 10,885 international conference delegates will visit New Zealand thanks to the work of Tourism New Zealand, injecting an additional $30 million into the New Zealand economy.
"Demand for incentive travel is growing as well. Since July 2014 Tourism New Zealand has supported 117 major incentive bids and secured $23.5 million in incentive travel to New Zealand."
"It is a very positive time for the industry with the development of new convention centers for Auckland, Wellington, Queenstown and Christchurch in the pipeline," says Anna.
"These new convention centers will be a game changer for New Zealand and will allow us to start bidding to attract larger and more valuable conferences to New Zealand."
International delegates deliver the highest average daily spend of all visitors, making them an important part of Tourism New Zealand's strategy to increase the value of international visitors to New Zealand.
"In 2013 Tourism New Zealand received additional funding to significantly increase its presence in the conference and incentives space. Since then Tourism New Zealand's activity has gone from strength to strength," says Anna.
Tourism New Zealand is committed to working collaboratively with the business events industry to grow delegate numbers and value.
"It's great to see New Zealand successfully bidding for and winning international association conventions. Much of this comes down to the influential sector leaders who are putting their hands up to champion their field of expertise to attract key conventions to our shores.
