Opening of the Skycity Auckland Convention Centre

Mayor Hon John Banks, Parliamentary Colleagues, Dame Catherine, Dame Cheryl, Sir Dryden and Margaret, Councillors, Distinguished guests, Ladies and Gentlemen. It is a great pleasure to be here at the opening of the Skycity Auckland Convention Centre.

It is not everyday that a facility of this scale and quality is opened.

Skycity’s $140 million investment into this facility will give it the capacity to compete for a whole new range of prestige events.

The potential gains from this are widespread—not only for Skycity, but for the Auckland city and region, the tourism industry, and the whole of New Zealand.

But as significant as this infrastructure investment is, Skycity have not stopped there. They have also made a crucial investment in quality and service standards.

We have seen evidence of the commitment to quality in tonight’s events, with superb food and entertainment and outstanding service.

This investment in quality is vital for our visitor industry in meeting and exceeding customers’ expectations. It is key to generating positive word of mouth and ensuring long-term success.

This new convention centre also adds another crucial infrastructure asset to our growing tourism product.

I’m sure you’re all well aware that tourism is our number one export industry. Last year, international visitors spent $7.4 billion in New Zealand. But international guests are only part of the picture. New Zealanders seeing their own country spent over $9 billion last year – all in all tourism in a powerhouse in the New Zealand economy.

We continue to market ourselves internationally to high-value, high-yield guests, particularly through the 100% Pure New Zealand campaign, and the convention sector shows huge potential for further development. Last year alone, conferences and meetings attracted 68,000 visitors from overseas, injecting over $200 million into our economy.

I recently travelled to Sydney with the Prime Minister and Tourism New Zealand for the 100% Pure New Zealand Showcase.

The purpose was to show 300 of Australia’s business and political leaders, as well as media representatives, just what a vibrant and sophisticated destination New Zealand is, and that New Zealand is an environment that fosters creativity and innovation.

With the best of New Zealand food, fine wines from around the regions and an array of kiwi performing talent as diverse and exciting as composer Gareth Farr and Strike to Dance Company Black Grace and the talented young singer/songwriter Brooke Fraser and the magic of Susie Moncrieffs World of Wearable Arts.

Outstanding Kiwis including Grant Dalton, Sam Neill, Kate Sylvester, Peta Mathias and Weta Workshop genius Richard Taylor, served as honorary ambassadors for the night hosting tables of Australian guests – New Zealand's credentials as a premiere destination were in no doubt by nights end! A night orchestrated by another passionate creative Kiwi genius with us here tonight, Mike Mizrahi.

But as well as attracting our Australian friends as visitors we also want to compete with them as a conference destination.

We are currently in the process of developing a National Strategy for Major Events, which will include developing conference market opportunities. With a strong government–industry partnership and a shared vision forged during the creation of the New Zealand Tourism Strategy, the groundwork has been laid.

And I too want to acknowledge the huge contribution Evan Davies made to the building of that Tourism Strategy. His leadership of the sector working group was pivotal to the success of the process and the fact that we have a strategy to implement – and implementing it we are!

We are now working closely with the conference and exhibitions sector so that we can get a larger slice of the international events market.

With both Auckland and Christchurch equipped with world-class convention facilities; with exceptional service, genuine hospitality, expertise and technology, New Zealand is competing aggressively in the large, high-end conference market. As Evan said – there is room for, indeed need for, complimentary, quality business.

So, on that note, I’d like to congratulate the Skycity team on developing this outstanding facility, and on opening it in such style. Thank you for the opportunity to participate and I wish you all the very best for the future.