MEETINGS was effectively the launch platform for the company after McDonald spent the four years prior with Queenstown Convention Bureau.
She told micenet this week that Roam was now working on three proposals for North American companies for incentives in Auckland and Queenstown and on a proposal for an Australian group.
“While not all came from the MEETINGS event, we did unbelievably well at MEETINGS, which was a bit of a game-changer for us to be working in the new business, rather than working on it.”
She said the current proposals are for groups of between 20 and 60, which was ideal for Roam as a DMC that has offices in both Auckland and Queenstown.
While there were some questions about the readiness of the US market to travel, McDonald said that various conversations showed that US companies were robust enough to hold events a long way from home.
“It became apparent that they are not so risk averse that they would not travel around the Pacific triangle, to Australia, New Zealand and the islands,” she said.
While Queenstown has previously hosted 10 waves of 400 Amway China incentive delegates and an even larger incentive group was recently in Melbourne, the current interest for smaller, higher-spending incentives was a great start.
McDonald said Roam aimed to redefine what a DMC is.
“We work either third party, direct or with corporate clients, anybody that needs some help on a destination in New Zealand…they’re our people and we’re the glue in the whole thing.
“Across the world, that term DMC is thrown about in so many different ways. But for us, what it is, is making sure that New Zealand is amplified. And it’s a great example around the world of why New Zealand is that destination to come for incentive primarily,” she said.
For conferences, exhibitions and those larger scale events, Roam’s role was “to make sure that anybody that wants to come in is connected with the right suppliers to execute the best experience they can for their event.”
McDonald says it is also about the nuances a DMC understands.
“The value that a DMC can have by being on the ground because we know the little nuances of…November’s a really great month for conferencing because it’s not quite high season for summer, but it’s at the end of [the] ski season, which is popular in winter. But then I know exactly when [Auckland] Marathon weekend comes in and we bring 12,000 people in over 48 hours.”
