The Convention Activity Survey to March 2017 released today by the Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment (MBIE), shows a rise in delegate days across all events. The number of delegates attending all events increased to 3.6 million in the year ended March 2017, from 3.4 million in the year ended March 2016, while the total number of delegate days increased to 4.5 million in the year ended March 2017, compared to 4.2 million the previous year.
Conventions and Incentives New Zealand (CINZ) Chief Executive Sue Sullivan says the latest CAS report clearly shows the boost business events give to the cities and the regions during the quieter leisure tourism season.
“We are seeing a concentration of business event activity during the autumn and winter months, with an increase year on year. Meetings, seminars, conferences, conventions, trade shows and incentive events recorded around 1.7million delegate days during Q2 and Q3 2016, compared with approximately 1.3million in Q2 2016 and Q1 2017,” she says. (Reference page 5 CAS to March 2017)
“The data shows an increase of around 120,000 delegate days during Q2 and Q3 in the year to March 2017, compared to the previous year. These extra delegate days are welcome news for operators during the off-peak season.”
Lisa Gardiner, Business Events and Premium Manager, Tourism New Zealand says “Tourism New Zealand works to spread visitation across the year by bringing international conferences that take place outside of the peak season to the country. New Zealand has a fantastic business events offering and we promote this internationally alongside the industry to bring conferences worth millions to Aotearoa. This is having significant results with the estimated value from conferences won in last financial year at an impressive $39.7 million.”
This week new data showed that New Zealand has risen up the ranks as a global conference destination. According to the latest International Congress & Convention Association’s (ICCA) annual data New Zealand rose four places in the world listings, taking out the 12th spot in Asia Pacific and the 47th spot in the world.
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