Queenstown is gearing up to welcome 10,000 Chinese delegates to the region next year. It's the largest single piece of incentive business to arrive in New Zealand, says Destination Queenstown CEO Graham Budd.
While an event of this size is quite the coup for Queenstown, it's the result of the region's growing reputation in the MICE space.
Last April the region was awarded the annual Amway China Leadership Seminar incentive event for 2018. Amway manufactures and sells consumer products in the nutrition, beauty and home categories worldwide.
As the number of participants is so large, delegates will visit Queenstown in groups of 500 over the 2018 autumn shoulder season, explains Budd.
"It's expected to bring significant economic value, estimated at $50m to the local economy during this time, and is aligned with our strategy to target growth in Queenstown's traditional shoulder seasons, autumn and spring."
Budd sites the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment's latest Convention Activity Survey, which shows Queenstown hosted more than 1000 single-day events and nearly 500 multi-day events in 2016.
These brought some 72,000 delegates to Queenstown. They spent a total of 120,000 delegate days in the region.
Queenstown hosted the third largest total of incentive activities in 2016 - some 89 events totalling 14,500 delegate days. It also hosted more than 300 special occasion events and 26,000 special occasion delegate days.
Conferences and conventions made up a significant portion of these events, with 218 held in the South Island resort last year. This brought a total of 40,000 delegate days to the region.
"Queenstown has long been the choice of destination for high-level forums and meetings in both the public and private sector, not least because of the beauty of the region, but it's also a welcome break from the bustle of their usual commitments.
"Queenstown also has the conference and incentive infrastructure to facilitate such events from start to finish, including regular and efficient domestic and trans Tasman air services and a modern airport, just minutes away from hotels and our lakeside town centre."
Conference and incentive business is an extremely important part of Queenstown's visitor mix, he says.
"Our key priority markets for conferences are New Zealand and Australia, and we work to drive incentive business from Asia and North America too.
Destination Queenstown is welcoming the development of a convention centre located next to the Remarkables Park Town Centre. While a completion date is yet to be confirmed, construction could start as early as the end of the year.
The proposed private development of a Remarkables Park Convention Centre is currently progressing through the consenting process.
With a total area of 2560 sq m, stage one will be large enough to accommodate 700 plenary and 500 banqueting delegates in adjacent areas of the main hall, without the need to break down and reset between day and night functions.
The main hall will have capacity for up to 1400 delegates, while a separate foyer, as well as exhibitions spaces, are ideal for cocktail receptions or smaller functions.
It's not only new builds going ahead; renovations around the region have also been underway. Crowne Plaza Queenstown has recently undergone a $500,000 refurbishment to help keep the property "front of mind", says sales and marketing manager Kylie Walker.
On the first floor, the hotel's new-look meeting rooms and spaces ensure it continues to lead the way in the MICE market, offering rooms to the conference, incentive and meetings markets with high-end meeting technology and connectivity.
"As market leaders we're always looking at ways of improving our services and the quality of conference and events rooms and public spaces," she says.
The fresh new look of the hotel adds a modern touch to interiors and includes upgrades to furniture and carpeting throughout the main public spaces, such as the lobby and three-sixty restaurant.
If the views over Lake Wakatipu and The Remarkables mountain range become too distracting through the floor-to-ceiling windows, there is blackout capability in each of the meeting rooms to help keep everyone on track.