PAICE 2012 important to the success of NZ business events market in Australia.

The annual Pacific Area Incentives and Conference Expo (PAICE) was held in Auckland, with almost 200 buyers and more than 100 offshore event and incentive suppliers attending the SKYCITY Auckland Convention Centre.

New Zealand is Australia’s largest business events market, attracting close to 45,000 convention and conference visitors and over 200,000 corporate arrivals for the year ending September 2012.

Almost 40 Australian tourism operators visited PAICE 2012 at to showcase products, venues, hotels, activities and attractions to prospective New Zealand buyers.

Business Events Australia was again a major sponsor of PAICE, supporting the continued growth of the Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Events (MICE) market from New Zealand to Australia.

“PAICE is an important opportunity for the Australian industry to meet and do business with New Zealanders and we are delighted to have a strong contingent of Australian businesses participating in the event this year,” Business Events Australia general manager Penny Lion said.

“New Zealand is one of our most important markets... the Australian contingency [spoke] to event planners and industry about recent developments in infrastructure and new products and experiences.”

Attendees from Australia included Qantas Airways, Tangalooma Island Resort, BridgeClimb Sydney, Canberra Convention Bureau and Accor Pacific Qld.