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The Tourism Industry Association has announced the first line-up of speakers for Tourism Summit Aotearoa 2026.
The summit runs on Wednesday November 4, 8.30am–4.30pm, at Te Pae Christchurch Convention Centre — a day of discussion, fresh thinking and networking for tourism professionals.
This year’s theme is Tourism Inc: Distinctive by Design.
The summit will look at what being distinctive by design means for individual businesses and for New Zealand tourism as a whole. International and local speakers will examine how purposeful decisions build competitive advantage, drive innovation, strengthen global competitiveness and shape experiences that could only come from Aotearoa New Zealand. Organisers say delegates will leave with fresh ideas, practical insights and actionable takeaways.
The panel- global shifts and navigating the landscape
With geopolitical tensions rising, trade relationships evolving and economic power continuing to shift, the panel will address how understanding the global environment matters more than ever for New Zealand businesses.
Political reporter Corin Dann will facilitate, joined by Hon. Tim Groser, former Minister of Trade; Kelly Eckhold, Chief Economist at Westpac New Zealand; and Felicity Roxburgh, Executive Director of the New Zealand International Business Forum.
The discussion will touch on the forces shaping international trade, economic growth, investment and business confidence from changing alliances and protectionist policies through to emerging opportunities in key markets and what those shifts mean for New Zealand and the tourism sector.
Keynote – Tabitha Harris, co-founder, OHO
Tabitha is a brand strategist and creative director at cultural design agency OHO, with a career spanning Aotearoa and international markets. She has led large-scale rebrands, international marketing rollouts and retail activations for Nike, Converse and L’Oréal, and holds a niche specialism in placemaking across tourism, retail and the public realm — including Tottenham Hotspur stadium, boutique London hotels, Heathrow airport, and mixed-use developments across London and Dubai. In New Zealand she has worked on destination brands, insight reports and marketing campaigns for councils, government agencies, operators and community groups.
Her session will cover placemaking and place branding in New Zealand: how to define what makes a place distinctive, translate that into a value proposition, and build brands that mean something to the people who live, work, visit and invest there.
Keynote – George Cao, co-founder and chief executive, Dragon Trail International
George is a globally recognised expert in tourism strategy, digital travel ecosystems, destination marketing and traveller behaviour. His keynote will cover destination competitiveness, emerging traveller trends, the role of technology and distribution, and how destinations can create distinctive experiences that drive growth and conversion.
Focus session – beyond the border and designing tourism from the inside out
What if tourism began not with what can be sold, but with what matters to the people and the place?
Drawing on TRC Tourism’s work across Aotearoa, Australia and the Pacific, Kylie Ruwhiu-Karawana will share lessons from Indigenous and community-led tourism – how local knowledge, cultural authority and purposeful engagement build resilient destinations and commercially strong experiences that could exist nowhere else.
Delegates will leave with a fresh lens for testing their own decisions, who shapes the experience, who benefits, what is protected, and whether it is truly distinctive or could be anywhere.
Further speaker announcements and programme updates are expected in the coming weeks. Registrations are open and places are limited. Enquiries: [email protected].
