MEETINGS 2026 has turned handshakes, diary appointments and a formidable amount of convention-centre coffee into a projected NZ$170 million business pipeline. It is the strongest commercial result in the event’s history.
Business Events Industry Aotearoa (BEIA) said its latest post-event survey showed a 55 per cent rise in projected business value compared with 2025. Buyer numbers also climbed 20 per cent.
That gives New Zealand’s business events sector more than a handsome headline. It offers clear evidence that qualified, face-to-face meetings can still move serious money.
Held at Auckland’s New Zealand International Convention Centre (NZICC) on 17 and 18 June, MEETINGS 2026 attracted a record 1,600 attendees. BEIA’s final tally included more than 700 qualified buyers and over 260 exhibitors representing 19 regions.
The event was the 29th edition of New Zealand’s national business events trade show. Its 30th staging is set for 2027. BEIA describes MEETINGS as the country’s only national trade show dedicated to the business events industry.
BEIA Chief Executive Lisa Hopkins said the value of opportunities and conversations between buyers and exhibitors was the highest result recorded.
“This reinforces the positive momentum which is being felt across the sector, with strong interest from both domestic and international buyers to hold business events in New Zealand. It also underscores the importance of MEETINGS as the industry’s flagship trade event, connecting the industry with key decision-makers and creating opportunities that translate into future business,” she said.
BEIA said the figures came from surveys completed by hosted and day buyers. The data was then independently verified.
Respondents were asked to state the total projected value, in New Zealand dollars, of bookings they intended to place. That distinction matters. NZ$170 million is a forward-looking pipeline, not money already banked.
Even so, the sharp rise in average booking value suggests buyers were not merely collecting brochures and complimentary pens.
The share of buyers planning to book business remained broadly similar to 2025. However, the expected average value of those bookings rose strongly. Combined with the 20 per cent increase in buyers, that pushed total projected turnover 55 per cent higher year on year.
“The strong satisfaction scores from exhibitors and visitors show the quality of the connections taking place and the importance of MEETINGS for building new partnerships and future events,” Hopkins said.
The result comes as New Zealand builds its position in the international conference market. Tourism New Zealand has set a record target of 110 conference bids worth NZ$253 million for the 2026–27 financial year. It reached 110 bids valued at NZ$185 million in the previous year.
MEETINGS 2026 welcome at NZICC Auckland
Separate BEIA data cited by Tourism New Zealand found multi-day conferences supported NZ$925 million in economic activity during 2025. They also generated more than 735,000 international visitor nights.
MEETINGS delivered about 8,000 appointments across its two trade-show days. The NZICC also gave planners a close look at Auckland’s greater capacity for large congresses.
Purpose-built halls and meeting rooms may lack the romance of a vineyard incentive dinner. They are, however, rather useful when 1,600 people arrive with calendars open and budgets attached.
Hopkins said the 2027 edition would mark a major anniversary.
“Next year marks 30 years of MEETINGS, a significant milestone for an event that has welcomed thousands of decision-makers, organisers and planners, and resulted in billions of dollars being pumped into New Zealand’s economy over the past three decades.”
The 30th MEETINGS will return to the NZICC in Auckland on 29 and 30 June 2027. With a record pipeline now on the books, the anniversary edition has inherited both momentum and a sizeable benchmark.
No pressure, then, merely NZ$170 million worth of it.
Covered for EGT Media by Peter Needham – © 2026.
Read Time: 3 minutes.
Author Bio:
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.
