New Zealand’s business events sector wants the next government to treat it as more than a tourism earner.
Business Events Industry Aotearoa (BEIA) has published Business Events Election Year 2026: Connection. Influence. Impact., a manifesto setting out its priorities ahead of the general election in November. It argues that business events are New Zealand’s “silent strategic economic and intellectual asset”.
Multi-day conferences contributed approximately NZ$925 million to the New Zealand economy in 2025. Globally, business events generated an estimated US$3.1 trillion in business sales, contributed US$1.8 trillion to global GDP and supported 24.2 million jobs over the same period.
The document notes that the sector has long been measured through visitor spend, hotel nights and regional dispersal – measures it says remain important. It argues that leading destinations increasingly treat business events as a platform for economic growth, international influence, knowledge exchange, innovation and investment attraction, and calls on the incoming government to apply the same lens.
Lisa Hopkins, BEIA chief executive, said: “Business events are already generating considerable economic value. The opportunity now is to build on that contribution by using them more strategically to support New Zealand’s wider economic priorities.”
She added: “The question for New Zealand is no longer whether business events matter. It is how they can be used more strategically to support national priorities and long-term economic growth.”
BEIA points to Fieldays as an example of the sector in action. The 2026 edition ran at Mystery Creek Events Centre from 10-13 June, with more than 1,100 exhibitors – including 74 international exhibitors from 14 countries – and 35 ambassadors, consuls-general and trade commissioners attending.
Richard Lindroos, chief executive of the New Zealand National Fieldays Society, said: “Business events have the power to influence industries, shape future thinking and create lasting economic and social impact.”
The manifesto can be downloaded from the BEIA website.
