The research project, undertaken throughout 2025, determined that multi-day conferences held in New Zealand in 2025 delivered a NZ$925 million contribution in economic and productivity terms.
The research also provided updated figures on spend by delegates of all kinds – those who live locally to the events they are attending, those who live elsewhere in New Zealand and those who travel from overseas in order to attend a business event in New Zealand.
“This research is important because, until now, New Zealand’s business events sector has had to rely on fragmented and outdated data to quantify the value of multi-day conferences,” said BEIA’s chief executive, Lisa Hopkins.
For delegates who live locally, the spend per delegate for the whole conference was NZ$999, while spend per delegate for those coming from elsewhere in New Zealand was NZ$2,118 and for international delegates it was NZ$3,726, which also includes pre- or post-conference stays in New Zealand. These figures include conference registration fees.
“This research demonstrates how important domestic and local delegates are to the resilience of our national business events sector,” said Hopkins.
“When the number of international visitors softens, it’s New Zealanders travelling to other regions who keep the activity going and help economic benefits continue to flow across the country.”
In addition, the data project found that $80 million in spend was generated by companions travelling with New Zealand conference delegates in 2025.
Interestingly, the research also covered the income of event owners, including registration fees, exhibitor fees, sponsorship and other income, which was determined to be $446 million for the year.
More than half of event income was from delegate registrations, with exhibitor fees compromising 22 per cent of income and sponsorship a further 17 per cent.
The results of the research were announced on Monday morning at the first official business event at the New Zealand International Convention Centre (NZICC) which opened last week. The event, Te Panapana, brought Auckland’s business events sector together with the city’s broader business community at the new venue to highlight the ‘powerful synergy between business and business events’.
The data project was partially funded by a grant from New Zealand’s national government, with the cash coming from the country’s International Visitor Conservation and Tourism Levy.
The research piece itself was produced by Fresh Info using existing data alongside new data sourced through surveys of industry and event delegates.
