Wellington hosts ICCA workshop
Wellington hosted New Zealand’s largest-ever gathering of international associations in February for an International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA) Business Workshop.
The three-day workshop at Wellington’s young convention centre, Tākina, was attended by 13 international associations and representatives from nine international destinations.
“Hosting the ICCA Business Workshop in Wellington has been a milestone moment for our city and for New Zealand,” said Business Events Wellington manager, Irette Ferreira.
“We were so proud to welcome such an influential group of clients and destinations to Wellington, share what we love about this city with them and hopefully turn them into fellow ambassadors for Wellington.
“Collectively, the associations represent 18 potential international conferences, totalling over 28,000 delegates.
“Based on the latest Business Events Industry Aotearoa economic data, securing these events could generate between NZ$100 million and NZ$106 million in economic value for New Zealand.”
Chief executive of WellingtonNZ, Mark Oldershaw, said even if the city won only some of the 18 conferences, it would have a significant impact on the city.
The business workshop included an event at New Zealand’s Parliament, attended by the tourism and hospitality minister, Louise Upston.
Australia gets revised international visitation target for 2030
Within the latest action plan for Australia’s 2030 visitor economy strategy, THRIVE 2030, released last month, there has been something of a change to the visitor spend target for 2030.
The target had been set at $230 billion, including spending by short term leisure, business and business events visitors as well as international students coming to Australia for less than a year and those staying for longer.
With the entity that tracks Australia’s visitor stats, Tourism Research Australia, now forecasting that the $230 billion spend target will be “significantly exceeded”, the new THRIVE 2030 action plan has updated it, by shifting the focus to purely short term visitors.
As a result, the spend target will remain the same, but longer term international student expenditure will no longer be counted towards the figure.
In the year to September 2025, international visitors spent $37.1 billion in Australia and had a total trip spend of $53.2 billion.
The action plan notes “the Australian Government’s move towards a more carefully managed system for international education” as the government has worked to reduce the number of international student enrolments in Australia in the last few years.
Reducing international student numbers could have a detrimental effect on the business events landscape as many of Australia’s leads to host international meetings come out of Australia’s academic community, so any attempt to reduce it could reduce that opportunity. International student fees also help sustain Australia’s universities financially.
Prominent Australian PCO hits big birthday
ICMS Australasia had its 60th anniversary in late January. The PCO believes it is the longest running organisation of its kind in Australia.
“I cannot be more proud to recognise this anniversary,” said ICMSA’s chief executive, Emma Bowyer.
“I am privileged to be able to continue the legacy of a company that was a trailblazer 60 years ago and still is today. Spending 20 years of its 60 year-history with ICMSA has brought about extraordinary life experiences to me.
“So much has changed since 1966, but our core reason for our existence, to create an environment in which people can share their valuable knowledge with their peers and communities to better our society, remains the same.”
