 When Tourism Auckland received responses to the survey commissioned by mice.net magazine and conducted by Micromex which showed New Zealand was the most common answer to the question “What international destination are you considering for an upcoming conference or event?’ they were understandably excited, especially as Auckland was on top of the list. Tourism Auckland sent out a press release stating as much but in their excitement they forgot to mention that mice.net magazine was behind the research. When mice.net pointed this out to Tourism Auckland business tourism GM, Anna Hayward, she was on the phone within minutes and apologising profusely for the oversight.
Tourism Auckland sent out an amended press release shortly afterwards. mice.net would like to thank Anna and her team for their professionalism. No wonder so many people want to meet in Auckland!
 Picture this ladies: Before leaving the house to travel to ICCA, Linda Gaunt, CEO of MEA, says to Mr Gaunt, “There are two bags on the sideboard”. As she points to each bag she says: “Now this one has my dry-cleaning in it and this one has old clothes in it (that I’ll never wear again), so take that one to the Smith Family and that one to the dry cleaners. Ok?” It’s not rocket science to figure out what she picked up from the dry cleaners on her return from overseas is it now?
Varan Freestone of Port Macquarie-based Dharam Events should get a medal for the lengths she is going to to promote the New South Wales destination. When the local council decided they no longer needed someone in their tourism department to promote the destination to the business tourism market Varan, it seems, has taken on the role in her own time. She recently organised for mice.net editor Brad Foster to visit Greater Port Macquarie, organising flights, accommodation and a two-day itinerary. You can read all about his experience on page 64 of this edition.
Our editor said it and we have to reiterate it here... why were there no Australian bureaux, Tourism Australia representatives, or Aussie venue operators at IT&CMA in Bangkok in October? Sure it’s expensive, but some bureaux now have offices in Asia which would significantly cut down on the cost of getting there.
Creation of Events New South Wales Pty Ltd by NSW Premier Morris Iemma recently is great news for Sydney and will only help to grow the events business in years to come (see page 12). Apparently the first big event the board is after is the 2018 Soccer World Cup. Not sure whether Harry Kewell and David Beckham will be playing by then but no doubt there will be plenty more “eye candy” for some spectators.
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