Tourism New Zealand has confirmed 64 international conference wins in the past year, worth an estimated NZ$78.8m (US46.6m) to New Zealand’s visitor economy. The Tourism New Zealand Business Events team reports closing out its 2025 financial year hitting record bid targets enabled by a NZ$3m government funding boost announced in March 2025.
It exceeded its stretch target of 110 bids worth NZ$170m, making 112 bids worth $173m. In addition to the bid numbers lodged in FY25 there were also 100 resulted bids (win/loss announcements), with 64 wins and 36 losses.
Tourism New Zealand global manager business events Penelope Ryan (pictured) says: “What that economic impact figure doesn’t capture is the other benefits hosting these events deliver to New Zealand, from research collaborations to investment opportunities, job creation, profile for New Zealand universities, and knowledge sharing to find solutions to global challenges.”
Wins secured in the last year include the WONCA World Rural Health Conference in 2026; Asia-Pacific Intelligent Transport Systems Forum 2027; World Indigenous Cancer Conference 2026; and International Precision Dairy Farming Conference 2025.
“We continue to accelerate momentum thanks to the government’s additional NZ$3m in funding for the 2026 financial year,” Ryan said, adding: “We have conference bids in process for 2026 and beyond.” New Zealand has already secured nine conference wins in the first month of the new financial year.
Conference pipelines continue to grow across New Zealand’s three new key city convention centres – Te Pae Christchurch Convention Centre, Tākina Wellington Convention & Exhibition Centre, and the New Zealand International Convention Centre, opening in Auckland in February 2026.
But Ryan notes a number of the resulted wins in the first month of this financial year were in the smaller regions, including Dunedin, Hamilton, and the Bay of Islands, where strong knowledge hubs and unique experiential learning opportunities were securing conferences.
“People often think of conferences as things that happen solely within the four walls of a convention centre,” Ryan says. “The magic of events in New Zealand comes with our combination of world-class venues plus the unparalleled opportunities for real world experiences and learning to bring the conference to life, surrounded by our unique manaakitanga – our welcome and care for visitors.
For more information visit businessevents.newzealand.com
