Lisa Hopkins: Business Events Aotearoa CEO on the sector's contribution to the economy, the opening of the new Auckland International Convention Centre

There are hopes Auckland's new International Convention Centre will be a huge drawcard for international delegates. 

A Business Events Industry Aotearoa report reveals the sector delivered $925 million for the economy last year.  

It shows international delegates here for conferences spent $645 daily on average – higher than holiday visitors. 

CEO Lisa Hopkins told Mike Hosking they’re in growth mode with the new convention centre coming online.  

She says they now have a strong suite of convention centres across the country, which gives them a broader opportunity to take businesses of different sizes, different needs, and different requirements. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
It turns out if you hold and host stuff, it's

(00:02):
good for the economy. The business events sector contributed almost
a billion, nine hundred and twenty five million to be
precise to the economy last year generated one point five
million visitor night spend per Delicate was strong to Lisa
Hopkins as the chief executive at Business Events and as
with us, Lisa morning.

Speaker 2 (00:18):
Good morning, Mike.

Speaker 1 (00:19):
Is this a growth story? There's more weathers came from.

Speaker 2 (00:22):
Absolutely, there's more where this comes from. And I think
you know, this was a data set that was developed
during a year which you know started quite well, ended
very well, but in the middle was quite soft. So
I think we've got some some more good news to
look forward to for the rest of the year.

Speaker 1 (00:42):
Where does the convention center and Auckland fit into this?
Does this provide or drive new business or does it
just divert business from wherever it is now to a
new place.

Speaker 2 (00:50):
No, it absolutely drives new business, Mike, because what we've
now got is we've now got quite a very strong,
sweeter convention centers across the country, which just gives us
a wider opportunity or broader opportunity to take new business
of different sizes, different different needs, different requirements. So we're

(01:12):
really in a growth mode with the engine ICC now
coming online as well.

Speaker 1 (01:18):
How much of its domestic, how much of its international.

Speaker 2 (01:22):
So if you it was quite interesting when the results
came through. So we had about fifty five percent that
came through from domestic delegates and around about twenty three
percent were international and the rest twenty two percent came
from local delegates. So definitely the opportunity and the growth

(01:43):
opportunity is in the international space because that's the piece
which is really infinite in terms of where the opportunity lies.
And with the new Convention Center, we've now got an
option to bring in even larger conferences.

Speaker 1 (01:59):
That threty seven hundred and twenty six bucks that the
international delegate spends, does that incorporate what they may do
after they've left the conference, if they take a holiday
that sort of thing or not.

Speaker 2 (02:09):
Yes it does, because you know, and these are obviously
average spends that yes it does. So we were based
on the data that we got, the average international delegate
spends just over eight nights here in New Zealand, and
of that only about four of that would be a conference,
and then on average another four would be around the country,

(02:31):
because that's.

Speaker 1 (02:31):
All the numbers. Thirty seven hundred dollars is a solid spin.
In fact, even domestic at twenty one hundred. I was
surprised about. I mean, that's a good spend, isn't it.

Speaker 2 (02:40):
It is a good spend. And of course that also
includes a delegates registration fee, because that registration fee also
gets spent in the economy going towards other businesses and
other services that are required to deliver that conference. So
it's a really good news story.

Speaker 1 (02:58):
Good to talk. Appreciate very much, least Hopkins, who's the
chief executive of Business Events. Isn't that good? For more
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