With New Zealand expanding its venue capacity for business events and association meetings through the opening of the New Zealand International Convention Centre next February, the country’s CVB is now ramping up efforts to win over organisers.
Its latest initiative is to engage a contract resource in Malaysia to grow business from the South-east Asia region.
Penelope Ryan, global manager for business events at Tourism New Zealand (TNZ) told TTGmice that Asia is a focus market for the bureau’s efforts in attracting association meetings, and having a person on the ground to build relations and communicate with valued partners is crucial.
An experienced individual has been identified, but Ryan remains mum on their identity.
“This representative will join us in October,” shared Ryan, adding that the incumbent has strong connections in the industry as well as experience in identifying the bids that TNZ could pursue.
She added that South-east Asia is a promising market, where many event organisers and attendees regard New Zealand as a bucket list destination. Associations based in South-east Asia tend to have a larger Asian majority in their audience.
“Destination New Zealand has a lot of really great points that we can (highlight) to the South-east Asia market. While the tourism aspect is secondary (to association meetings), the appeal of the destination is still really, really important. New Zealand rates highly in terms of appeal and has all the necessary support infrastructure that meetings and events need, like accommodation and venues,” she remarked.
Beyond these “hygiene factors”, Ryan also pointed to the power of New Zealand’s people, “who are doing some really fantastic stuff in terms of the universities, the education sector, and various industries”.
She believes that the country’s wealth of intellectuals will be a strong magnet for associations looking for knowledge exchange and community engagement.
