New Zealand’s appeal as conference destination strengthens

News release
May 6, 2011

New Zealand’s appeal as conference destination strengthens

New Zealand’s appeal to the Australian market as a destination for conferences and incentives is going from strength to strength.

Latest figures show that in the 12 months ended February 2011 nearly 39,000 Australians travelled here for conferences, conventions or incentive events – 38% more than the year before. For the month of February 2011, 3275 Australian delegates visited New Zealand, an increase of 55% on February 2010.

The total number of overseas visitors arriving in New Zealand for business tourism events in that same period was up 27% to 60,069.

“Our business tourism industry is performing very strongly at the moment and that’s reflected in these latest figures,” says Conventions & Incentives New Zealand chief executive Alan Trotter.

“We’re proving a particularly popular destination with Australian corporates because of our close proximity and because the current exchange rate means we can give them great value for money. The Australian dollar is worth nearly 30 per cent more than the New Zealand dollar at the moment so they can get much more bang for their buck here than they can if they chose to conference at home,’’ Mr Trotter says.

“That’s certainly one of the key messages we will be pushing when we host our annual business tourism expo, MEETINGS, in Rotorua next month. The expo is going to be a great chance for us to promote our industry’s services and facilities to overseas conference organisers and should help them to appreciate how much New Zealand has to offer as a destination for conferences and incentive events.

“We want to make sure the strong growth we’ve seen lately in the number of people coming here for business tourism events continues well into the future,’’ Mr Trotter says.

ENDS

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