Business events under the ETSP
Business events are a large and important contributor to the events industry and attract high value visitors to New Zealand’s regions and main centres. They provide frequent sources of revenue for convention centres and venues not commonly used for other large-scale events. Business events with at least 200 attendees are included in the ETSP from 4 April 2022 until 31 January 2023. The ETSP is now closed.
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The ETSP scheme has now closed, but will continue accepting applications and claims until 28 February 2023 for eligible events that were scheduled to begin on or before 31 January 2023.
Definition of a business event
A business event is an event that is hosted by an organisation (association, corporate, government) and is either an incentive, conference, convention, exhibition, or trade show.
Business event eligibility criteria
Applicants must meet all the following criteria:
- Business event must have ticketed or registered attendees of at least 200 in-person attendees (the tickets or registrations do not need to carry a cost, but proof of financial commitment to suppliers of at least the minimum threshold of attendees is required).
- Business event date must be scheduled to begin between 4 April 2022 and 31 January 2023 (inclusive).
- Business event must be held at an external venue, not in-house.
- Business event must either:
- be organised by a member of Business Events Industry Aotearoa (BEIA); or
- be facilitated by a Regional Convention Bureau; or
- be held at a venue for the express purpose of hosting a business event (to be verified by MBIE, in consultation with BEIA, during the eligibility process).
- Business event must have been publicly announced or have been actively in the market (e.g., where tickets or registrations have been advertised or for sale):
- prior to 23 January 2022 for events scheduled to begin before 1 July 2022; or
- at least 4 months prior to the event date for events scheduled to begin on or after 1 July 2022.
- Business event must be held in New Zealand
- Business event must be organised by a New Zealand registered organisation (e.g., an entity registered with the Companies Office or a charitable organisation).
- Business event must not be solely delivered by local government and other public authorities (but can be partly funded by those authorities, although costs incurred by local government would not be eligible for recovery).
- Business event must not have an agreement in place with underwriting of 80% or more of unrecoverable costs from local government or another insurer.
- Business event organisers can only apply once for cancellation and once for postponement for an event.
- Touring business events across multiple venues and dates are eligible on the basis that the cumulative total of attendees reaches the minimum attendee threshold, and they meet all other criteria.
For business events scheduled to begin between 4 April 2022 and 31 January 2023
Download and complete this ETSP eligibility form:
Events Transition Support Payment (ETSP) – Eligibility form (Business events) [PDF, 388 KB]
Once completed, email your form to our provider, Aon at: nz.eventsupport@aon.com
You will receive a letter either confirming or denying your eligibility to the ETSP scheme. Applications that meet the required criteria will be accepted up until 28 February 2023.
Find out more
Find out more about the ETSP, including unrecoverable costs, triggers for payment, the application process, terms and conditions and ETSP recipients.
Additional information for applicant
Contact us
If you have any questions about the Events Transition Support Payment scheme, please contact eventsupport@mbie.govt.nz.
For questions about a claim, please contact Aon at nz.eventsupport@aon.com.