Media Release 15 February, 2011

Rotorua Shows Huge Growth as a Conference Destination

The Rotorua Convention Bureau is thrilled with the latest Convention Activity Survey (CAS) results which show huge growth in multi-day conferences and delegate days in 2011.

The CAS results show Rotorua secured 297 multi-day conferences in the year to December 2011, which was 28 more conferences than the previous year equating to 10.4% growth for the region compared to a decline of 20.8% in the CAS benchmark.

More than 40,000 delegates attended Rotorua’s 297 multi-day conferences. The delegates collectively stayed almost 140,000 delegate days in Rotorua and are estimated to have spent $60 million in the region.

Rotorua's market share of domestic delegate days spent in the 10 New Zealand CAS regions has increased from 12% to 20% over the previous year and from 2% to 17% for Australian delegates. Australian delegate days spent in Rotorua have increased from fewer than 2000 days a year ago to more than 10,000 in the most recent year.

Rotorua Convention Bureau manager Denise Siviter says when Rotorua first went into the Australian conference market with business development manager Debbie Gee, Rotorua had no profile and no history, but with a lot of hard work the Australian market has come ahead in leaps and bounds.

“These results are clearly a reflection of the work that Debbie has done in the Australian conference market, boosted by the support of local industry.

“Rotorua Convention Bureau and industry have formed strong relationships with key people in Australia by working together to encourage business to come across this side of the Tasman.”

Siviter says MEETINGS 2011 (New Zealand's only national conference and incentive trade show) was held in Rotorua for the first time last June and it has also helped to raise the profile of Rotorua’s conference and incentive industry.

She says MEETINGS showed delegates how easy it is to run a professional and successful event in a compact city like Rotorua, with many people seeing the city in a fresh new light. She hopes the success of MEETINGS will help Rotorua to continue to grow in the future.

“These results are a great start to the year and the Rotorua Convention Bureau look forward to another successful year in 2012,” says Siviter.

ENDS

More information:

The Convention Research Programme was established in 2009 through a partnership between Conventions and Incentives New Zealand (CINZ), the Ministry of Economic Development (previously Ministry of Tourism) and 10 Convention Bureaux in New Zealand. The objectives of the CRP are to monitor convention activity in New Zealand; and estimate the contribution multi-day conventions make to the economy. The following 10 convention bureaux are participating in the Convention Research Programme - Auckland, Rotorua, Taupo, Hawke’s Bay, Manawatu, Wellington, Nelson, Canterbury, Queenstown and Dunedin.

The Convention Activity Survey (CAS) monitors and benchmarks the performance of professional conferencing and meeting venues in ten regions of New Zealand.

The Convention Delegate Survey (CDS) reports on expenditure data collected from multi-day convention delegates through an online survey.

More information on the Convention Research Programme and free access to the CAS and CDS reports is available to from the Ministry of Economic Development website at this link: http://www.med.govt.nz/sectors-industries/tourism/tourism-research-data/other-research-and-reports/convention-research

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