Tourism New Zealand will chase 110 conference bids worth a record NZ$253 million in the next financial year.
The initiative was disclosed at MEETINGS 2026 in Tāmaki Makaurau, Auckland, yesterday.
“We’re delighted to be closing out this financial year hitting our targets of 110 bids worth NZ$185 million in value, which is the highest we’ve ever reached for,” Tourism New Zealand Global Manager Business Events Penelope Ryan said.
Tourism New Zealand Global Manager Business Events Penelope Ryan
“Next financial year, we will retain our target of 110 bids, but our value target is now set at $253m. We’re confident we can meet this ambitious new value target and continue to deliver lasting benefits for Aotearoa New Zealand.
“There’s been a strong recovery in the business events sector numbers over the past year. We have a record number of international conferences booked and a very strong pipeline of bids, and we want to build upon that.”
Ryan continued: “Business events will continue to be a high-value part of our visitor mix, bringing people who spend more, travel outside peak seasons and contribute to growing New Zealand’s knowledge economy.”
Ryan welcomed the additional $1m in government funding for Business Events, which will boost bidding activity through Tourism New Zealand’s Conference Assistance Programme.
New Zealand was named an “early recovery leader” in the ICCA (International Congress and Convention Association) annual global rankings for 2025, moving to 45th position, up from 48th in 2024, with the number of association meetings hosted in 2025 exceeding 2019 levels.
At MEETINGS 2026
New data from Business Events Industry Aotearoa (BEIA) showed that multi-day conferences supported $925 million in economic activity in New Zealand in 2025 and generated more than 735,000 international visitor nights.
“New Zealand is recognised as a safe and welcoming destination. We now have three world-class convention centres open in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch which are attracting business events from across the globe,” Ryan says.
“We are also seeing increased interest from corporate and incentive groups out of North American, Australia and South-East Asia, including some that were originally looking at Europe.”
Edited by: Peter Needham at MEETINGS 2026 in Tāmaki Makaurau, Auckland – © 2026.
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About the Author.
With more than 35 years in travel journalism, Peter Needham has filed stories from Fleet Street to Fiji, and just about everywhere in between. As Managing Editor (Australasia) for Global Travel Media, he shapes industry coverage with the steady hand of someone who’s seen fashions come and go and knows what lasts.
Since going freelance in 1993, his byline has appeared in the Sydney Morning Herald, the Australian Financial Review, Reader’s Digest, and Qantas’ in-flight magazines. He edited Inside Tourism for seven years, wrote the long-running Travel Tales column for Vacations & Travel, and even crafted copy for Tourism Australia ahead of the Sydney 2000 Olympics.
A Reuters, Guardian and AAP veteran, Peter has travelled widely from South American backpacking trails to a Saudi military hospital, gathering stories the old-fashioned way: by being there.
