Lisa Hopkins: Business Events Industry Aotearoa CEO on the 50% increase in international delegate arrivals in the first quarter
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What recent trends are we seeing in international delegate arrivals?
Tell you what else is going well in the economy at the moment, the international business events. So we've had more than 16,500 delegate arrivals in the first quarter of this year. Is that up? Yes, it is. It's up 50%. Australia's up 37%. The US is up 53%. Lisa Hopkins is the chief executive of business events, the business events industry, and is with us. Lisa, morning. Good morning, Mike. Are we back at pre-COVID or getting close to it? What's going on there?
We're painfully close. We're at about 96% pre-COVID just based on that first quarter.
Good.
So we're really almost there.
Were we doing this anyway or will or has the International Events Centre in Auckland helped?
Well, of course, in the first quarter, the NZICC opened about midway through February. So it was coming through, but there is no doubt. So those are numbers we're coming through anyway, but there is no doubt that...
How close are we to pre-COVID levels in the business events sector?
what the NZICC is giving us is another opportunity to bring in even more numbers, and I think that's the exciting thing about the future.
Good. January was good. Now, that's normally quiet. What happened there?
Yeah, January was exceptional. Well, we had a couple of really big conferences throughout the country, especially in Auckland. We had the big Jehovah's Witness conference out at Eden Park, but we also had some international conferences down in Wellington at Te Kina and then Te Pai in Christchurch. So they all really contributed to bringing in what was normally a month when, frankly, many of us in the sector do tend to try and have a bit of a holiday.
Exactly.
Not so much this year.
What's the saying about Zoom and digital and we're no longer face-to-face? It would seem to be saying the opposite. We like a bit of human contact.
Absolutely. I think that was then and this is now. And I think what then, and we know what we're talking about then, taught us is that coming together has never been more important. And so I think we'll continue to see that rise and people wanting to get back in a room and have conversations and connect.
And would you argue these are good, tangible things, these meetings, or is it just a tax write-off and some jollies and some drinks at the end of the day?
What role did the NZICC play in boosting delegate numbers?
If you know what I mean. I do know what you mean. No, they absolutely are tangible and they're very, very important. You know, the legacy impact of conferences is probably something that not a lot of people fully understand. And, you know, the information that's shared, the knowledge that's shared in these meetings, they can really impact communities. And so they're really important to the country.
That's uplifting, Lisa. I appreciate your contribution to the program this morning. Lisa Hopkins.
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