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Our Australian Team
The recent announcement of quarantine-free travel between New Zealand and Australia, starting on 19 April is welcome news for Auckland and the wider New Zealand business events industry.
Over the past year the Auckland Convention Bureau team have been busy supporting the domestic event industry, but also closely working with Tourism New Zealand to develop a strategic pipeline of international events, looking as far ahead as 2028 for larger international association conferences.
In the past six months, Auckland has secured major business events such as The International Association of Women Police Annual Conference in 2023 and The International Coral Reef Society’s Symposium which will be held in Auckland mid-2026.
Visitors to Auckland will have a number of new hotels, restaurants, bars and visitor attractions to choose from. Beautification projects in the city centre and Viaduct precinct have also boosted the region’s world-class offering for visitors and residents.
New hotel openings include the Park Hyatt, Sudima Hotel, QT and Hotel Britomart. New attractions include Weta Workshop Unleashed and the All Blacks Experience and on the food scene a host of new eateries by celebrity chefs, including Homeland by Peter Gordon, a food embassy, cooking school and restaurant.
Several business event venues and facilities have also been revamped. This closely follows the opening of Commercial Bay, which many of our international visitors may not have had the opportunity to experience.
Ken Pereia, Business Events Manager – Australia says: “The announcement has already given confidence for our Australian partners and event organisers, our in-market team has already seen an increase in enquiries, specifically with corporate bookings. There is an appetite to reconnect with New Zealand based businesses and experience some of the new attractions Auckland has developed over the past 12 months.”
“We know the value of a business event attendee is significant, they have a higher per person spend than a tourist, along with wider reaching benefits from investment, jobs, study and business relationships.
“They also bring business to Auckland outside of our traditional summer high season, so encouraging and supporting our Australian business events visitors is vital for our out-of-season growth bringing a much welcomed spend to our city in winter and outside of school holidays,” says Periera.
Australian event organisers are also looking to come to Auckland to attend the MEETINGS Showcase, hosted by BEIA on June 2 and 3. MEETINGS provides Auckland an opportunity to showcase the city's new offerings and highlight why Auckland is the best MICE destination in Oceania (2020).
Would you like to know more about how we can support you hosting an event in Auckland? Connect with the team:
Business Events Manager - Australia – Kenneth Pereira
Business Development Manager – Melbourne – Edwina Fitzsimon
Business Development Manager – Australia - Anne-Sophie Pouzin
Australia Business Events Value for Auckland
Business Events Industry Aotearoa (BEIA) has identified $38 million in direct spend from Australian-based conference organisers looking to host an event in New Zealand between mid-2021 and the end of 2022. The economic value to New Zealand of Australian business event delegates is estimated at $225 million in direct spend per year. (Source: BEAS, BEDP, BEDS 2019, Fresh Info).
On average, each Australian delegate spent a total of $1,800 in New Zealand in 2019, averaging four nights in the event region, and another two nights elsewhere within New Zealand.