New Zealand will finally re-open to all international visa holders from 1 August 2022.
In a statement from Business Events Industry Aotearoa (BEIA), its Chief Executive Lisa Hopkins said the date delivers confidence to international event organisers to choose New Zealand as their conference, meeting, or incentive destination.
“New Zealand is really starting to gear up for the future and the announcements today help support this. We will have the infrastructure, the talent and the connections which will make the decision easy to win international conference and incentive travel business,” she said.
The New Zealand government will also temporarily exempt tourism and hospitality businesses from paying the median wage to recruit migrants on an Accredited Employer Work Visa, and instead, a lower wage threshold of $25 per hour will be required until April 2023.
Australia scrapped the requirement for pre-departure COVID testing on 18th April 2022 and included in the announcement is that New Zealand will also remove this requirement by 31st July 2022.
BEIA manages New Zealand’s only national annual trade show MEETINGS. Last held in June 2021, MEETINGS generated $74 million of business for the New Zealand industry. MEETINGS 2022 will be staged in Christchurch on 15 and 16 June.
