Southern Lakes gearing up for TRENZ 2011

Southern Lakes gearing up for TRENZ 2011, 22-25 May

Queenstown in the heart of the Southern Lakes is gearing up for TRENZ 2011, 22-25 May, with around 900 international travel Buyers, New Zealand tourism operators and media arriving at the alpine resort for the four-day event which kicks off tomorrow (Sunday 22 May).

TRENZ is the biggest and most important annual international business event on the New Zealand tourism industry’s calendar, says Tourism Industry Association New Zealand (TIA) Chief Executive Tim Cossar.

“It is where New Zealand’s leading tourism operators showcase their products and services to targeted travel Buyers and negotiate contracts for the coming seasons. We have almost 300 Buyers flying into Queenstown from traditional and emerging visitor markets ranging from Australia, the USA and UK, to China, Argentina and Russia.

“These are the most influential travel Buyers in terms of the number of visitors they can generate to New Zealand. The fact that we have attracted so many to TRENZ 2011, in excess of our pre-Christchurch earthquake target, is testament to the strength of New Zealand as a visitor destination,” says Mr Cossar.

“This is the first time TRENZ has been held in the Southern Lakes, incorporating Queenstown, Wanaka and Fiordland. This is one of New Zealand’s most popular visitor regions, world renowned for its incredible natural beauty and thrilling adventure activities and that has also undoubtedly been a major drawcard for international Buyers and media.

“As well as intensive one-on-one business meetings, our aim is to ‘wow’ Buyers and media at this year’s TRENZ. Networking and social functions are being held at a variety of locations around Queenstown to showcase the resort to its best advantage. In a major logistical exercise, all 900 delegates are being taken off-site on Tuesday afternoon to experience firsthand some of the activities and attractions Southern Lakes has to offer visitors.”

Mr Cossar says a TRENZ iphone app and smart phone mobile web site m.trenz.co.nz were launched today, giving delegates all the information they need about the event at their finger tips.

“Another new initiative at this year’s TRENZ is our inspirational speaker programme, which will give the New Zealand operators ideas and motivation to grow their business. Speakers include Andrew Stone, a business partner with top advertising agency Droga5 and AdMedia Magazine CEO of the year four times, who will offer the Kiwi operators tips on how to get creative and get noticed on the world stage. We also have Chinese outbound tourism expert Pierre Gervois who will offer Kiwi tourism operators innovative ways to target the new generation of affluent Chinese travellers.”

Mr Cossar says this year’s TRENZ is more important than ever, given the very challenging economic times, and the impact of events such as the natural disasters in Christchurch and Japan and the continuing economic woes being experienced in important traditional visitor markets, in particular the UK, which are impacting on international travel.

“We are also dealing with a rampant Australian dollar, which is giving Australian travellers plenty of options for relatively low cost travel to South East Asia and the USA.

“On the positive side, increased air capacity with the entrance of new airlines to New Zealand is opening up emerging markets out of Asia in particular. Having TRENZ in the Southern Lakes is a great opportunity to attract more visitors to the South Island from China. This is now one of our biggest and fastest growing markets but Chinese visitors typically have short-stay holidays in the North Island.”

On Wednesday the Prime Minister and Minister of Tourism John Key will attend TRENZ, speaking to media and meeting delegates.
Mr Cossar says the Prime Minister’s attendance is a reflection of the importance of TRENZ and the tourism industry to New Zealand’s economic development.

“Worth $9.5 billion annually, tourism is New Zealand’s largest foreign exchange earner, bigger than dairy. Tourism also supports jobs throughout urban and rural New Zealand, generating wealth and vitality into communities across the nation.”

About TRENZ
TIA manages TRENZ, which will bring together about 280 New Zealand tourism operators (Exhibitors) with a similar number of invited international travel and tourism buyers from 31countries, as well as media. The event directly helps to grow New Zealand’s tourism industry, worth $9.5 billion in foreign exchange annually. Hosted by the Southern Lakes region, TRENZ 2011 will be at the Queenstown Events Centre, 22-25 May.

TRENZ is supported by Tourism New Zealand, Air New Zealand, Qantas, host region Southern Lakes and other industry partners.
For more information visit www.trenz.co.nz

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