Queenstown a hot favourite at TRENZ - best ever turn-out

NZ’s biggest international tourism trade show was back with a bang for the first time in four years last week (9-11 May) with Queenstown operators turning out in record numbers to show off what the resort has to offer to hundreds of holiday market buyers from around the world.

Some 1500 delegates attended the huge event held at Christchurch’s spectacular Te Pai Convention Centre – buyers and sellers making up about 650 of those. It’s the first time the industry’s most important trade event has been held since 2019, with the May 2020 TRENZ event having to be cancelled because of Covid restrictions.

More than 300 NZ tourism businesses were showcasing their products and services to more than 330 high quality international buyers from 25 markets at what has been the country’s greatest tourism trade event for decades.

TRENZ is expected to have generated $174 of economic impact a minute during four days, with ongoing benefits to Christchurch and New Zealand’s tourism industry.

A total of 31 Queenstown operators were represented this week among the masses of booths – one of the largest ever turn-outs for a TRENZ show, says Destination Queenstown Chief Executive Mat Woods.

The Queenstown contingent totalled about 80 delegates in all and Mat says Queenstown was “an incredibly popular district” with buyers wanting to bring visitors to NZ. “Queenstown looked very strong.”

Buyers from around the world were keen to check out Queenstown’s latest offerings, many from Australia, the US, and a good contingent from China, the UK and Europe.

Queenstown was ahead of the game with its strong sustainability initiatives and Mat says they were able to share a lot around Queenstown’s Destination Management Plan. “Sustainability is massive globally and Queenstown’s Carbon Zero 2030 really intrigued overseas buyers,” he says. The resort’s strong sustainability message was a stand-out plus, particularly with Real NZ’s moves towards decarbonisation of the TSS Earnslaw and Ngai Tahu’s world-leading prototype electric Shotover Jet boat plans. Air NZ’s move to introduce electric flights on its regional NZ routes was also a huge drawcard, says Mat.

“Guests are interested to come here and see what we’re doing and learn,” says Mat. Innovators looking at teaching others about sustainability also want to come here and test and try out their prototypes, and on a different note there’s a real market to bring incentive business events to Queenstown to learn about its sustainability advances and initiatives, he says.

Tourism Industry Aotearoa, which organised TRENZ, made a special effort to focus on sustainability by doing away with the grandiose sales booths this year, instead opting for a standard booth only, featuring a product image on the back of the booth in recyclable material.

“There’s been an amazing vibe as it’s the first time in four years that we’ve all had to reconnect in the industry,” says Mat. “It’s been huge, meeting old friends and new colleagues.”

It was also 17 years since Christchurch had hosted a TRENZ event with the 2020 event due to have been held in the city.

The Te Pai Convention Centre has been a magnificent host facility and Christchurch has really welcomed TRENZ with a wonderful spirit and energy in the city now, 11 years on from the devastating earthquakes, says Mat.

Thousands of appointments have been held between tourism operators and high-quality international buyers and TIA Chief Executive Rebecca Ingram says the business that’s taken place this week will boost the industry and New Zealand economy over the coming years. “We’ve had some great discussions and tourism in Aotearoa New Zealand has a very bright future,” she says.

Rebecca shared some top-level information with industry leaders at the TIA Tourism Symposium during TRENZ, saying the tourism industry was part way through an ambitious project to reimagine its future. Initial thinking suggested focuses on reducing tourism’s carbon footprint, supporting industry prosperity, including for the workforce, embedding Te Ao Maori, introducing new funding mechanisms and enhancing innovation, technology, data and research.

The event wound up on Thursday night, 11 May, with a farewell function showcasing some of Canterbury’s best food and beverages, and performances from local artists.

While the Queenstown crew were all excited to see photos of the huge snow dump cooling the ground on Thursday in what’s anticipated to be a very busy winter, Mat says it was even more exciting to see the huge shift towards tourism sustainability.

There’s been a lot of emphasis in NZ on attracting high value visitors, but Mat says Queenstown’s focus is more on high contributing visitors. “They stay longer, take the time to become a temporary local, getting to know and appreciate our people and place, forging connections and giving back to the Queenstown region.”