Destination Great Lake Taupō And Destinatenz Partner To Promote Business Events In Taupō

Friday, 16 May 2025, 2:56 pm
Press Release: Love Taupo

Taupō, 16 May 2025 – Destination Great Lake Taupō (DGLT) has announced a strategic partnership with DestinateNZ to showcase the region's extensive business events and incentive offerings. This collaboration comes at a time when Regional Tourism Organisations (RTOs) are navigating increasingly challenging fiscal and regulatory environments, highlighting how industry partnerships can drive innovation and success.

The partnership, spearheaded by Michelle Caldwell at DestinateNZ, aims to position Taupō as a premier destination for business events while leveraging its already strong reputation among domestic and Australian leisure travellers.

"This project represents a true collaboration between RTO and industry," said Patrick Dault, General Manager, Destination Great Lake Taupō. "While Taupō is already beloved by domestic and Australian visitors, many are unaware of our region's exceptional capacity to host world-class business events and incentives. Our partnership with Michelle and DestinateNZ will help us showcase this lesser-known side of our destination."

The collaboration will focus on promoting authentic itineraries and presenting a unified, engaging voice to attract business events to the region, which was recently voted one of the most welcoming places on Earth by Booking.com in 2025 and named among the top 50 places to visit in 2025 by CNN.

"Taupō offers an extraordinary blend of natural beauty, adventure activities, and sophisticated venues that create unforgettable business events," said Michelle Caldwell, Director of DestinateNZ. "We're excited to partner with DGLT to bring these exceptional offerings to the forefront of the business events sector. Our combined expertise will showcase Taupō's unique appeal as a destination where productivity meets inspiration."

The decision to attend MEETINGS 2025 in partnership was influenced by feedback from Lisa Hopkins, CEO of Business Events Industry Aotearoa (BEIA), who shared that 70% of pre-registered attendees had expressed interest in hosting events in regional New Zealand, including Taupō.

"Lisa has been an integral part in developing this partnership and is a strong advocate for both business events and the Taupō region," added Dault. "Her insights have been invaluable in guiding our strategic approach to this market."

MEETINGS is New Zealand’s largest national trade show for the business events industry, organised by Business Events Industry Aotearoa. Since 1997, this premier trade show has connected buyers and sellers from the conference, meetings, exhibition, and incentive travel sectors over two days of networking and business development.

"As RTOs face more challenging environments, creative partnerships like this one between DGLT and DestinateNZ are ways to explore collaborations that benefit local communities and strengthen destination marketing," said Hopkins. "Taupō has enormous potential in the business events space, and I'm thrilled to see this collaborative approach to showcasing the region’s offerings."

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