Tourism New Zealand’s Leonie Ashford has been elected to the board of the International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA).
Her appointment is regarded as a coup for New Zealand because it’s the country’s first representation on the international association board.
Ms Ashford was elected to the role at the recent 63rd ICCA Congress in Abu Dhabi.
Ms Ashford has spearheaded business events at Tourism New Zealand over the past 12 years and is transitioning to a new role in 2025 – special advisor – business events.
She said she was honoured and excited to be appointed to the ICCA board.
“I can see so many opportunities for further growth for New Zealand and the wider Asia Pacific region through collaboration and I’m committed to doing my best to help that happen,” she said.
Newly appointed Tourism New Zealand global manager of business events, Penelope Ryan, said Leonie’s ICCA appointment is a well-deserved acknowledgment of her experience and commitment to the business events industry and also a great win for New Zealand.
“As the leading association for conferences and conventions globally, representation at ICCA builds New Zealand’s business events profile internationally and will open new opportunities for development and collaboration,” she said.
“The business events sector was worth $403m to New Zealand in 2023, and we’re on track to achieve 90 international conference bids worth more than $140m in FY25, our most ambitious target to date.”
In the last ICCA world rankings for countries and cities hosting meetings that fit into the ICCA criteria, New Zealand was ranked 43rd in 2023, up from 56th place the previous year. The country hosted 56 international conferences.
The most popular New Zealand city for international conferences was Auckland, ranking 84th globally, up from 173rd the previous year. The city hosted 27 international conferences in 2023.
It is anticipated that Auckland and New Zealand’s rankings could climb higher when the New Zealand International Convention Centre opens in the last quarter of 2025.
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