Tourism New Zealand’s management of The Ministry of Economic Development’s Conference Assistance Programme (CAP) has seen its first success, within two months of administering the programme.
Wellington City Council used funding from the programme to bid for the 2012 Digital Earth Summit and has just announced the bid was successful.
The Summit, which has a relevant natural disasters theme, will explore the role of digital earth technology in environmental protection and disaster mitigation.  It is estimated to generate $1.6m for the New Zealand economy.
Tourism New Zealand Chief Executive Kevin Bowler says Tourism New Zealand has increased its focus on business events and is pleased with this early success.
“The Conference Assistance Programme fits well with Tourism New Zealand’s strategy of attracting more high value visitors by increasing the country’s share of the international business events market through industry partnerships.”
Event Dynamics Director James Chatterley who assisted in the winning bid says he was impressed with the turnaround time involved in the bid.
“Tourism New Zealand’s rapid turnaround of our Conference Assistance Programme application was great and allowed us to quickly move ahead with our bid, which took five weeks from suggestion, to bid, to successful outcome.”
Mayor Celia Wade-Brown said Wellington City Council’s ability to bid for international conferences is greatly assisted by Central Government support.
“We would like to thank Tourism New Zealand for their help with funding the bid, Hon Steven Joyce Minister of Communications and Information Technology for his support and Land Information NZ for their partnership,” said Ms Wade-Brown.
The bid for the 2012 Digital Earth Summit was a joint effort between Wellington City Council, Tourism New Zealand, Wellington Convention Bureau and Event Dynamics.
The Conference Assistance Programme is available to industry or organisations to assist them in bidding to bring international conferences to New Zealand.  Research shows that on average, each international delegate spends a total of $4,079 while in New Zealand, much more than leisure visitors spend.

City.Mobi

Also in New Zealand today, City.Mobi is celebrating the success of its new guide to Wellington.

City.Mobi offers the most comprehensive mobile travel guides available, with over 800 cities in 200 countries listed. Each is developed by the City.Mobi team to combine into a single global travel directory.

However, each city retains its own mobile identity via a dedicated domain. Already on offer are Brussels.Mobi, Paris.Mobi, Sanfrancisco.Mobi and Sydney.Mobi.

Wellington.mobi is the latest in this illustrious line up, offering click to call functionality – which means no scribbling down telephone numbers.

Most entries are also linked to websites where users can quickly access more detailed information if needed.

Other key features include information on accommodation, restaurants, attractions, entertainment, nightlife, shopping, and transport.

City.Mobi guides include user reviews and traveller utilities such as a translation guide, currency converter, news and local weather guide.