16 | T T Kim Newth Harnessing NZ’s business events sector BEIA’s Annual Premier Business Events Tradeshow (main). BEIA Chief Executive Lisa Hopkins and Minister for Tourism Hon. Louise Upston walk through MEETINGS 2026 (inset). In Election Year 2026, Business Events Industry Aotearoa (BEIA) is seeking to broaden the national conversation around business events and calling for the sector to be better recognised as a platform for economic growth, international influence, knowledge exchange, innovation and investment attraction. The association has released a paper that sets out its position called Business Events Election Year 2026: Connection. Influence. Impact. It urges a more deliberate and coordinated approach to make the most of business events as a strategic economic and intellectual asset. It is already well recognised that business conferences and other events make a significant contribution to tourism and hospitality. The boost from bed nights and visitor spend alone is considerable. “We have a little saying about attendees from overseas coming to a conference in New Zealand: they arrive as delegates and leave as tourists, “ says Lisa Hopkins, BEIA Chief Executive. “That also applies to delegates from within New Zealand going to a conference in another region because they’ll often stay a bit longer to explore local attractions. Of crucial importance, too, is that conferences don’t typically take place in the peak season and that helps flatten the peaks and troughs for tourism and hospitality operators.” Research commissioned by BEIA shows multi-day conferences contributed approximately $925 million to the New Zealand economy in 2025. On top of that, the industry is helping to generate ideas, investment, partnerships and influence, which are all so essential for New Zealand’s long-term economic success. “The opportunities that come from these engagements are immense and long lasting. Every trade deal typically starts with having the right people in the room discussing what that might look like. Every peace deal that’s ever happened in the world would have started the same way. When you have the right people coming together it creates opportunities for connection, investment and sharing knowledge.” Looking at business events through this broader lens is something that BEIA hopes the incoming government will respond to. Business Events Election Year 2026 sets out actions that can strengthen the sector and support wider economic growth. These include adopting a more strongly coordinated approach across government and industry as well as providing greater certainty around Business Events Industry Aotearoa EVENTS long-term investment into the sector and improving policy settings to ensure New Zealand remains competitive as an international destination. “We wanted to provide some additional thinking for the government of the day to consider on the role of the sector, how important it is for some of the work they want to do and to make sure the sector is properly recognised and sustainably funded. “It comes down to being more deliberate in how we use business events to help unlock long term outcomes. We know there’s power in bringing the right people together. That’s how ideas are created, how investment starts and how opportunities begin.” A good example is an event like Fieldays that brings together business and trade engagement with a major event attracting thousands of people. Another is New Zealand’s only national tradeshow for the business events industry, MEETINGS, which is owned and managed by BEIA and this year generated a projected business value of around $170 million. Building confident, capable people in the events sector is helping to strengthen New Zealand’s reputation as a world-class business events destination. Te Haeata, New Zealand’s Certificate in Business Events, launched last November, is growing real world capability as people enter the sector and encouraging ongoing growth in skills, knowledge and experience. Another popular programme is BE Mentored, which BEIA has been running since 2014 to help develop careers, connections and experience within their industry. This spring, the 2026 BEIA Conference is taking place at the Christchurch Town Hall, (28-29 October). The two-day programme promises to be packed full of inspiration, with education, industry collaboration and valuable networking opportunities.
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