New Zealand Books $78.8m in Conference Business

Tourism New Zealand confirmed 64 international conference wins in the past year, worth an estimated $78.8m to New Zealand’s visitor economy.

The Tourism New Zealand Business Events team closed out its 2025 financial year hitting record bid targets enabled by a $3m government funding boost announced in March 2025. It exceeded its stretch target of 110 bids worth $170m, making 112 bids worth $173m. The national tourism organisation had previously set a target of 90 bids with a value of $140m for the 2025 financial year.

In addition to the bid numbers lodged in FY25 there were also 100 resulted bids (win/loss announcements), with 64 wins and 36 losses. The 64 wins have an estimated direct economic impact of $78.8m.

Tourism New Zealand Global Manager Business Events Penelope Ryan (on the right) says: “What that economic impact figure doesn't capture is the other benefits hosting these events deliver to New Zealand, from research collaborations to investment opportunities, job creation, profile for New Zealand universities, and knowledge sharing to find solutions to global challenges.”

Wins secured in the last year include the WONCA World Rural Health Conference in 2026; Asia-Pacific Intelligent Transport Systems Forum 2027; World Indigenous Cancer Conference 2026; and International Precision Dairy Farming Conference 2025.

“We continue to accelerate momentum thanks to the Government’s additional $3m in funding for the 2026 financial year,” Ryan says. “We’reholding the 110-bid stretch target but aiming to increase the value to $185m in FY26. We have conference bids in process for 2026 and beyond, with wins confirmed as far ahead as 2030, highlighting the vital role business events activity plays in growing the New Zealand economy now and into the future.”

New Zealand has already secured 9 conference wins in the first month of the new financial year. Conference pipelines continue to grow across New Zealand's three new key city convention centres – Te Pae Christchurch Convention Centre, Tākina Wellington Convention & Exhibition Centre, and the New Zealand International Convention Centre, opening in Auckland in February 2026.

But Ryan notes a number of the resulted wins in the first month of this financial year were in the smaller regions, including Dunedin, Hamilton, and the Bay of Islands, where strong knowledge hubs and unique experiential learning opportunities were securing conferences.

“People often think of conferences as things that happen solely within the four walls of a convention centre,” Ryan says. “The magic of events in New Zealand comes with our combination of world-class venues plus the unparalleled opportunities for real world experiences and learning to bring the conference to life, surrounded by our unique manaakitanga - our welcome and care for visitors.

“This combination is putting us in good stead to target higher value and larger scale conferences, enabling us to build on the value that business events deliver to New Zealand and New Zealanders.”
 

Powered by Meeting Media Company, publisher of Headquarters Magazine (HQ) – a leading international publication based in Brussels, serving the global MICE industry and association community.