Fewer delegates attended conventions in New Zealand in the past year. However, the numbers of visiting international delegates and their spending remained stable or increased slightly, the Ministry of Economic Development has found.
Weeks after Queenstown Lakes Mayor Vanessa van Uden announced she would chair an independent group of resort-based representatives to take a fresh look at the issues surrounding the establishment of a "significant convention centre" in the Wakatipu, the second annual convention delegates survey (CDS) showed the total number of convention delegates declined by 5% to 266,000 in the year ending June 2011, led by a fall in domestic delegates.
However, the number of international delegates, who account for almost half of all convention spending, increased by 4% to almost 55,000.
International delegate spending was stable at $226 million.
Total delegate spending from the 2528 conventions last year in the 10 regions participating in the survey contributed more than $460 million to the economy.
The ministry's tourism research and evaluation manager, Peter Ellis, said this week the data showed the conventions and conference industry remained robust despite difficult economic times.
