<B> New Zealand Mtgs. Rise</B>
By Judy Jacobs
The meetings and incentives market has grown dramatically in New Zealand in the past year and is expected to continue thanks to two special events, a couple of new hotels and increased marketing efforts on the part of the New Zealand Tourism Board and Air New Zealand.
While arrivals to New Zealand for conferences were up 7.8 percent in the year ending June 1998 over 1997, the figures for attendees from the United States rose 50.5 percent during that same period. "The number of large international conferences has helped boost American attendance," said Karen West, Incentives & Conventions Manager of the New Zealand Tourism Board. "Also the exchange rate has been very favorable, hovering around two New Zealand dollars per one U.S. dollar."
Although the government keeps no statistics for incentives, they're up as well. "The DMCs say that October of this year through April 1999 is looking better than ever for incentives. One DMC booked 4,000 nights for Queenstown alone, an almost unheard of figure in the past," said West. And, tourism officials say, the incentive market will only get better with the publicity generated by two upcoming events.
"The America's Cup and the Millennium are putting a focus on New Zealand like never before," said Kathleen Hughes, incentives and special events manager of Air New Zealand. While both will garner the country's attention, the America's Cup, which begins Oct. 21, 1999, is the impetus for development projects in Auckland. These include the America's Cup Village, a series of waterfront entertainment venues, which will thereafter be turned over to the city and be available for incentive and convention groups. These venues will be in the form of chalets and a four-story floating venue on the edge of the harbor.
To cater to an increasing number of incentives Down Under, Air New Zealand in August expanded its sales staff. It added a district sales manager in Minneapolis to handle Iowa, Minnesota and Missouri, where many incentive houses are located. The carrier also added sales managers in Boston, New York and Washington, D.C., to sell to the corporate and incentives market. The Washington sales manager also is in charge of convention sales to the many associations in the D.C. area.
In addition to augmenting its marketing staff, Air New Zealand has created a corporate database to which it sends a quarterly newsletter, hoping to attract more incentives business.
Meanwhile, two unique new hotels--the Heritage Auckland and Quay West--are expanding the accommodation options that Auckland has to offer as a meeting and incentive destination. The Heritage Auckland, which opened in July, is the latest incarnation of the city's landmark Farmer's department store, a building dating to 1914.
"The hotel is very different than any other hotel in Auckland," said West. "Although it was originally built in 1914, it was redone in 1937 at the height of the art deco era, so it has art deco touches throughout." While most hotels in Auckland are pursuing a varied market mix, the Heritage's main emphasis will be on groups.
"The main users of the hotel are expected to be conference and incentive groups from New Zealand, Australia and North America," said George Horsburgh, managing director of the Dynasty Hotel Group, which manages the property.
The property includes 269 suites withone, two or three bedrooms, each with an executive-style desk and a modem line. For meetings, there are two ballrooms and seven function rooms. "The hotel's main goal is to drive the room business from conferences, and it has been designed to do that. The entire first floor is conference facilities--the only hotel in Auckland where the conference facilities are all on one level," West said. "There is a second ballroom on the seventh level, however."
In addition, Auckland's first five-star, all-suite hotel opened in the heart of the Central Business District one block from Waitemata Harbor last year. The Quay West hotel includes 92 suites, each with fully equipped kitchen, living room, voice mail message system and second telephone line for fax modem connection.
"Although 65 percent of our business is corporate travelers, we also are attracting meetings and incentive business--about 5 percent," said Andrea Moffett, account manager. The hotel has three meeting rooms that can accommodate small to medium-sized groups, with a maximum of 125 people theater style.