Monday 6 August 2018
Future proofing the industry a hot topic at sold out Tourism Conference
The annual Tourism Conference hosted by the Tourism Export Council of New Zealand (TECNZ) is another sold-out event this
year. More than 320 delegates will gather in the Hawke’s Bay this week to learn and discuss what ‘future-proofing’ means
for tourism and for their businesses.
“Tourism operators are mindful of the challenges we face as an industry and conscious that we all need to play our part
and be better prepared to ensure we manage tourism growth sustainably into the future,” says Chief Executive of TECNZ,
Judy Chen.
“Our aim with this year’s conference is to get delegates thinking outside of business as usual and looking to the future
- what is tourism going to look like in 10, 20 or 30 years’ time, what innovations or artificial intelligence might we
be using to enhance the visitor experience, what does our future workforce look like?
“Our aim is always to inspire, educate and provide opportunities to network with one another. I am delighted to see such
strong support for the event and the region with record-breaking attendance numbers.”
“Hawke’s Bay is delighted to be hosting the 2018 TECNZ Tourism Conference” says Annie Dundas, General Manager of Hawke’s
Bay Tourism. “It’s been a long time since the conference was last held here in 2004 and an enormous amount of new
product has been developed – in food and wine, cycling and Maori tourism. This is our chance to showcase our tourism
industry to those who sell it internationally. Many delegates will be experiencing our tourism products while they are
here and we hope from this week we will see more of Hawke’s Bay on the itineraries of future international visitors.”
Napier Mayor, Bill Dalton said, “This conference is a terrific opportunity for tourism operators to explore everything
Napier, and indeed Hawke’s Bay has to offer. We have come a long way since the last conference was held here and are
increasingly becoming a destination of choice for those who want to experience are great slice of New Zealand.”
The conference is being held at the Napier Conference Centre on Wednesday 8 and Thursday 9 August with a programme of
local tourism product familiarisations being held prior to and after the event.
Ms Chen says, “Getting tourism operators to different parts of the country each year is the key to continuing to educate
them about the regional tourism products on offer. We have key inbound tour operators in town looking for fantastic
tourism product to put into their tours and what better way to achieve this than to show them what the region has to
offer. We know the Hawke’s Bay Tourism team, will do a great job delivering an exceptional event and we look forward to
continuing to work with them and local operators to drive international visitor growth into the region.”
ENDS