Busy week for Rotorua International Airport
24 October 2012
It was a busy week for Rotorua International Airport last week with tarmac space for aircraft at a premium at times.
The occasion was the national conference of Australian pharmacy chain Terry White Chemists taking place at Rotorua's Energy Events Centre.
The conference attracted more than 300 delegates who travelled across the Tasman on Saturday 13 October on two Qantas charter flights direct from Brisbane and Melbourne and on Air New Zealand's service from Sydney. They returned to Australia on Wednesday (17 October).
The council's Convention Bureau played a major role in securing the conference for Rotorua. This included the hosting of familiarisation visits to the city by an Australian professional conference organisor and a representative of the pharmacy company, to experience Rotorua facilities and services first-hand.
Events & Venues Rotorua sales & marketing manager Brett Jeffery said the conference had been very successful with an estimated $1.2 million economic benefit for Rotorua.
"Making it all happen for the conference required lots of hard work behind the scenes. Very good cooperation from local Rotorua tourism operators meant arrangements went very well for the conference."
Mr Jeffery said he was hopeful the event's success would help Rotorua attract more conferences from Australia in the future.