AMI 06-21 Destination Wellington NZ

Wellington, New Zealand’s capital, and the country’s other top business events cities are investing to boost their appeal to the wider international market. Angela Antrobus reports...

New Zealand is upping its game as a world-class convention destination. It’s still a work in progress but the enforced lull in international events has given it more time to prepare, including the development of three new convention centres in Christchurch, Auckland and Wellington.

“The growth in business events infrastructures underlines both the importance of this industry to the country’s economy and recognition of the wider knowledge, networking and business benefits international conferences and events bring,” says Bjoern Spreitzer, GM Domestic & Business Events at Tourism New Zealand (TNZ).

The capital Wellington began construction of its centre in 2019, triggering the need to grow its business events sales and marketing team. This led to the recruitment of Irette Ferreira who arrived in New Zealand in January last year to manage Business Events Wellington’s activities and strategy, having successfully headed up sales teams in South Africa and the Middle East.

“I feel extremely grateful to have spent these last 18 months in New Zealand which has managed this pandemic in the way it has,” she says. “Living most of the year relatively ‘normally’ has made settling in much easier than it would have been somewhere else. From everything I researched prior to coming here, the most common themes were how friendly Wellingtonians are and how compact and connected the city is, not to mention the fact that it’s beautiful and offers lots to do outside.”

Up to now, the city’s venues could only host meetings of up to 1,000 delegates and, Ferreira explains, most business events have been from the domestic market. “We could therefore jump back into conversations with existing clients pretty soon after we could host conferences again.”

The next important target was the conferences that rotate between Australia and New Zealand or Australasia (encompassing many neighbouring islands) and last November, a business development manager was appointed based in Sydney. “That has made a huge impact on our ability to build relationships within that market,” she says.

Now, with Tākina, aka Wellington Convention & Exhibition Centre (WCEC), coming on stream in mid-2023, the focus is on international associations. “We have kept a close eye on the impact the pandemic is having on this market,” Ferreira says. “At different stages, we have checked in with a range of international associations and PCOs directly to understand whether it’s meant they’re making major changes to their bidding process, requirements or decision-making criteria."

Opening soon

Te Pae Christchurch Convention Centre is first off the mark, opening for business in late October. A number of domestic and Australasian events are planned for the following months, including the NZ College of Midwives Conference in November.

Te Pae (Māori for a place where people can gather) is a major anchor project for the regeneration of Christchurch, the South Island’s largest city. Built to Five Green Star rating, it can to host up to 2,000 delegates and includes a 1,400-seat auditorium, 2,800 sqm of exhibition space and 24 meeting rooms.

Convention bureau manager Claire Hector-Taylor comments, “We are actively bidding for international and association business events to help ensure a robust pipeline over the coming years. We work in partnership with the TNZ business events team and key institutions and organisations in Christchurch to identify local champions who can bid to bring international events here. We have a strong focus on areas of expertise for the city including what we call ‘supermodes’, focus areas for the future.”

“Another question we asked was whether they had a different view of New Zealand as a potential host country for their events post-pandemic. We have been very pleased with the positive feedback and interest in the country, due to its reputation as a safe destination to conference in.

“As most international associations have been forced to push conferences from year to year, bid open years have slipped further into the future. This gives us a great opportunity to get Wellington on their radars for 2024/25 onwards, by which time we hope international travel would be closer to what we all know. It would also mean Tākina would have a few years of experience under its belt.”

Wellington is known as New Zealand’s ‘creative capital’ thanks to the wide range of entertainments and creative entrepreneurs to be found there. “Two of our key tertiary institutions have a specific focus on creative technologies and we have won a number of conferences in partnership with them,” says Ferreira. “For example, later this year Victoria University’s Computational Media Innovation Centre will be hosting Pacific Graphics in hybrid format and next year will host the ACM (Association for Computing Machinery) Conference on Interactive Surfaces and Spaces.”

On the way

Auckland, New Zealand’s largest city, is patiently waiting for the completion of the New Zealand International Convention Centre (NZICC). It’s suffered major setbacks but is now scheduled to come on stream in 2024.

The centre is integral to the development of Auckland’s business events infrastructure, along with new hotels, restaurants, bars and attractions. Auckland Convention Bureau (ACB), a specialist unit within Auckland Unlimited, is driving the growth of the city’s business events sector.

“While New Zealand’s borders have been closed to international visitors, we have continued to bid for international conferences as far out as 2028,” says ACB’s Gemma Wood. “In the past six months, we’ve secured the 2023 International Association of Women in Police Annual Conference (venue still under discussion) and the International Coral Reef Society’s Symposium for 2026 when around 2,500 delegates are expected.”

NZICC is a vertically stacked, modern building catering for up to 4,000 people in its 32,500 sqm of flexible convention and event space. The configurable spaces over four levels will include theatre capacity for 2,850 and up to 33 meeting rooms. It will be the only carbon-neutral venue in Asia Pacific.

Located in the central business district, NZICC is within an easy walk of universities, business hubs, innovation precincts, over 6,000 hotel rooms and leisure amenities. “It will be the largest and most versatile conference, exhibition and entertainment space in New Zealand,” says Wood.

Other key sectors BE Wellington considers when bidding are technology, education and research, and professional services and there is a current project plan to create a formal business event ambassador programme to reinforce this. It also participates in the TNZ Conference Assistance Programme available to any organisation wishing to formally bid for an international conference of over 200 delegates to be held in the country.

The Māori word Tākina means ‘to invoke’, to reflect Wellington as a place where people come together to talk and think. The new 18,000 sqm centre will feature 10,000 sqm of meeting space spread across its top two floors with a seating capacity for up to 1,400 in its main plenary space. It could also be configured to accommodate two medium-sized conferences concurrently across the two levels. The ground floor will comprise a 1,800 sqm exhibition hall with adjacent space to boost capacity and stand-alone meeting rooms. It has been awarded NZ Building Council Five Green Star certification representing excellence for environmental sustainability.

Strong player

No new convention centre on the way but Dunedin in the South Island is a niche destination for small/medium-sized conferences. In January last year, nearly 900 people attended the World Herpetology Congress on the University of Otago campus, cementing Dunedin’s reputation as New Zealand’s wildlife capital. And next year it expects some 500 delegates at the 17^th World Leisure Congress.

Contact
Irette Ferreira
Manager BE Wellington
T: +64 22 107 1012
E: [email protected]
WellingtonNZ.com

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