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Business Events Industry Aotearoa (BEIA) recently revealed how August’s international business event delegates added up to $27m for the New Zealand economy, as a strong channel of conferences heads this way for 2027.
International business events in medicine and agriculture are among those here in February 2027, with some set for the regions as well as the main centres.
The line follows a strong August, when 8,212 international delegates arrived for business events – up 28.5 per cent on August 2025.
BEIA chief executive Lisa Hopkins says “There are strong forward bookings and a pipeline which includes international business events spanning sectors such as medicine and agriculture. The other pleasing element is that there’s good dispersal, with some of the events held in regions as well as main centres.”
BEIA estimates August’s international delegates contributed more than $27m to the economy.
“The $27m estimate was calculated using BEIA’s Business Events Value Calculator, which is based on the national research undertaken in 2025. The calculator provides a standardised method of estimating the economic contribution of business events, using expenditure data from the research,” Lisa says.
The calculator puts the total at $27.1m. Delegate spending made up $22.6m of that, including $6.8m in registration fees. Companions spent $1.6m and event owners $2.9m.
Australian delegates spent an average of $2,844 each, while delegates from other countries averaged $2,620.
BEIA described China as a strong market, even though Chinese delegate arrivals in August were down 9.7 per cent on last year.
“The ‘strong’ relates to the 2026 figures compared to January-August 2025 (1,206 for that period, versus 1,444 for January-August 2026),” Lisa says.
That is a 19.7 per cent rise year-to-date.
BEIA’s research values multi-day conferences at $925m to the New Zealand economy in 2025.
“$925 million is the correct figure ($412 million in delegate expenditure, $80 million in companion expenditure and $433 million in event owner expenditure) says Lisa. “Total expenditure in New Zealand attributable to multi-day conferences is estimated at $925 million in 2025.” she says.
BEIA is conservatively projecting around 70,000 domestic and international delegates will attend business events between October and December this year.
