Rotorua showcased as convention location

Conference and incentives organisers will get first-hand experience of Rotorua as a convention location when the city hosts Meetings 2011 next week.
Meetings is New Zealand's largest conference and incentives industry expo and is bringing 170 exhibitors and 330 buyers, media and influencers to Rotorua on June 22-24 - including 90 buyers from Australia, 10 from China and seven from south east Asia.
Rotorua Convention Bureau manager Denise Siviter said it was a fantastic opportunity for the city.
"This is the first time we have hosted Meetings and it gives us opportunities to get buyers here who may never have been to Rotorua." International buyers include people from Thailand, Malaysia and India - areas Siviter said were strong in the incentives market.
"The buyers coming are very high-end and this is a whole new market." She said hosting Meetings for the first time was a chance for people who choose destinations and venues for events - from the very small to the very large - to experience Rotorua's hospitality for themselves, giving them a completely different perspective. The expo, organised by Conventions and Incentives New Zealand, runs on Wednesday and Thursday at the Rotorua Energy Events Centre. Siviter said many delegates were staying on for a day of familiarisation visits.
As well as hosting the event, Rotorua will also have a strong presence among the exhibitions, with new stands and an eye-catching orange and black colour theme.
"All our major players will be there from Events & Venues to hotels with conference facilities and activities that work with this market."
She said the benefits of exhibiting and hosting would come through reasonably quickly from the domestic market, but business from the likes of Australia would take one to three years to show through, as bigger events were planned that far in advance.
"The work that has been done in the Australian market is just starting to pay off and it will continue to grow."
Holding conferences in New Zealand is seen by Australians as being "almost domestic", but with the added wow-factor of travelling overseas. Siviter said the timing of Rotorua's transtasman flights was perfect for the conference market, allowing people to travel on Tuesday, attend the conference then travel back on Saturday.
 
ROTORUA'S SHARE
The Convention Activity Survey shows Rotorua has increased its market share of multiday conferences from 9.3 per cent to 10.6 per cent between the year ending June 2010 and the year ending March 2011.
Growth in corporate conferences here was above the national average and Rotorua also performed well in the association market. Although the number of association conferences here remained static, the total number of events decreased, meaning Rotorua's share increased.
The Rotorua Convention Bureau will also be exhibiting at the Association Forum in Brisbane next month to raise its profile among associations, charities, institutes, clubs and societies.
 
HOW MUCH DO THEY SPEND?
New Zealand hosts 32,000 conferences, conventions, meeting, seminars, exhibitions and trade shows each year, with 700,000 delegates booking accommodation for multiday events. Delegates at local conferences spend an average of $725 each during the event. This rises to $1419 for national conferences and $4079 for international conventions.