Christchurch conferences generate off-peak benefits

Te Pae Christchurch Convention Centre is set to host 8,255 delegates in May, with 2,650 of them international visitors, including the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons Annual Scientific Congress 2024, MotorSport NZ and the Institute of Directors NZ Conference. Te Pae Christchurch alone works with 222 suppliers from the Canterbury region and 85% of its purchases are from local suppliers. In 2023, Te Pae Christchurch staged 240 conferences and events. Venues Otautahi, managers of Christchurch Town Hall and Wolfbrook Arena, will welcome almost 29,000 people through its doors for 22 business events in May. ChristchurchNZ head of business events Megan Crum said of the upcoming events: “They facilitate the exchange of ideas and products and create new networks that, in turn, stimulate trade and investment, attract talent, foster innovation and improve productivity for our region”. Conferencing is often counter cyclical to leisure tourism and seasonality which means March to November are high months of activity in New Zealand. This is reflected in the city’s full hotel rooms during this off season and Global accommodation benchmarking company STR data published in Tourism Ticker show that Christchurch recorded an occupancy rise of 14.5% (to over 70%) for the week 31 March to 6 April. General manager of Crown Plaza Christchurch, Reinier Eulink said: “With the convention centre open, we now see certain weeks in April and May performing as strongly as our peak summer periods used to.” Other hotels are also benefiting, Bradley Conder, general manager of Accor Hotels said: “The opening of Te Pae Christchurch has led to a more consistent level of demand over the year, addressing our winter periods with obvious flow-on effects to event out the boom-and-bust cycle of years past and drive confidence for the market to increase investment into the city. As well as the economic boost, conferences bring social, cultural and environmental benefits to the city, too”