Wellington’s conventions market is continuing to be a strong driver of visitation to the New Zealand capital, according to the latest results in a regional visitor survey.
The Regional Visitor Monitor (RVM) has just released its April to June 2006 results. A joint venture between the New Zealand Ministry of Tourism, Tourism New Zealand and six regional tourism organisations (RTOs), the monitor aims to give seasonal ‘snapshots’ of visitors’ experiences in the regions surveyed, providing national as well as regional reports.
The results show that 11% of people visiting Wellington over this period cited conferences or conventions as the main reason for visiting. This is more than twice the national benchmark for this quarter of 4.5%.
“The conventions market is hugely important for Wellington tourism,” says Positively Wellington Tourism CEO Tim Cossar. “In the last financial year the city secured 35 conferences, which is estimated to bring $16.8 million to the capital over upcoming years. One of Wellington’s most attractive features is its compactness, which makes the city easy to navigate and cuts down on transport costs for delegates.”
The recent RVM results show that Wellington is also outperforming the national benchmark when it comes to the visiting friends and relatives market. Traditionally a strong market for Wellington, 35% of people surveyed indicated that this was their main reason for visiting, well ahead of the national benchmark of 27%.
The latest results are the third set to be released by the RVM, which began in November last year. Tim Cossar says the value of the survey is that it builds upon previous quarters’ results, providing aggregated data that can help RTOs identify trends and areas for improvement.
