ETW Staff – Mumbai
New Zealand’s US$24 billion tourism industry is on a roll with international travel and tourism buyers flocking to attend TRENZ 2015, the industry’s most important annual trade event. TRENZ 2015 will be held in Rotorua from May 17-20 and will be attended by 320 buyers from 24 markets. “That’s a 10 per cent increase on TRENZ 2014 in Auckland and the highest number of buyers since 2007,” said Chris Roberts, chief executive, Tourism Industry Association New Zealand (TIA), which organises the event.
Roberts informed that TRENZ exhibitor numbers have also increased compared to last year’s event, with 290 of the country’s leading tourism operators preparing to showcase their products and experiences to buyers compared with 260 last year. Over the four day event, exhibitors and buyers will have a total of 15,000 15-minute meetings, negotiating contracts worth 10s of millions of dollars to the New Zealand economy.
“Compared with last year’s TRENZ, we have particularly good growth in buyer numbers out of the UK, a traditional visitor market, and also from some of New Zealand’s emerging visitor markets, including Indonesia, Argentina and Brazil,” added Roberts. TRENZ is a showcase for the best products New Zealand tourism has to offer the world’s travellers. “In addition to reconnecting with well-established operators, the buyers will be looking for new and different experiences they can sell to consumers in their home markets,” he mentioned.
Kevin Bowler, chief executive, Tourism New Zealand opined, “It is encouraging to see such a strong resurgence in international buyers attending TRENZ 2015 – especially out of the western markets and our newer emerging markets. TRENZ is a key event on the travel trade’s annual calendar and provides real value for the tourism industry – allowing operators to get face-to-face with international buyers. I look forward to attending TRENZ once again for what I am sure will be another successful four days for buyers and the industry alike.”
Roberts said that the growth in buyer and exhibitor numbers attending TRENZ 2015 reflects the very positive results New Zealand’s tourism industry is enjoying, both in terms of visitor arrivals and value. “The buyers who attend TRENZ are the most influential in terms of generating international visitors to New Zealand. TRENZ is a very significant event for the industry as we aspire to our Tourism 2025 goal of almost doubling annual tourism revenue to US$ 41 billion by 2025.”