North American Trip a Huge Success

PRESS RELEASE
North American Trip a Huge Success

Auckland, New Zealand, 2 July 2007: New Zealand food and wine has successfully enticed lucrative North American conference and incentive business to the country.

A C&I industry group has just returned from a successful trip to America where the group hosted some influential prospective buyers for lunch and dinner in Chicago, Minneapolis and Washington DC.

The joint initiative between Conventions and Incentives New Zealand (CINZ) and Millennium Hotels & Resorts went down a treat and is part of an industry drive to attract more of the lucrative overseas C&I business down under.

“New Zealand is already under the world spotlight with the rugby World Cup coming up in France and the America’s Cup yachting in Valencia, and we have capitalised on that exposure,” says Alan Trotter, CINZ CEO.

“The feedback from the events has been fantastic. The guests were all intrigued by the combination of New Zealand food and wine and loved it. These people attend functions all the time, but ours definitely stood out which is fantastic.”

A considerable amount of business has already been secured as a result of the trip, with more quotes being finalised.

The ‘Taste of New Zealand’ showcase began with dinner at the Millennium Knickerbocker Hotel Chicago on Wednesday 30 May, followed by lunch at the Millennium Hotel Minneapolis on Friday 1 June. It concluded with a CINZ dinner at Agraria Restaurant in Washington DC.
The distinctly New Zealand menu at the first two dinners was prepared by New Zealand Culinary Team chefs Andrew Brown and Darren Wright, and included such delicacies as paua pattie with horopito, tomato sauce and chips and New Zealand King salmon with smoked eel daikon rolls, apple fennel salad and avocado puree.

The menu was of course complemented with a range of New Zealand wines such as Brancott Marlborough Pinot Noir and Brancott Vineyards Marlborough Riesling 2005.

New Zealand C&I product next showcases itself to the Australian and New Zealand markets at MEETINGS 2007 in late July in Auckland, with another hit at the international market at the EIBTM tradeshow in Barcelona, Spain in November.

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