Australasia's largest education and youth tourism trade show at the Queenstown Events Centre last week rewarded agents with an often "unseen" view of Queenstown's educational opportunities.
The Australia New Zealand Agent Workshop (Anza) attracted about 600 participants from 30 countries in what Queenstown Resort College chief executive Charlie Phillips called "a coup" for the resort.
With a similar model to Trenz, the workshop facilitates meetings between agencies sending students and edu-travellers and those who provide educational and tourism services at the destination.
Mr Phillips, also spokesman for education promotion group Study Queenstown, said Queenstown had benefited from the Christchurch earthquake, which caused the venue for the workshop to be changed.
For many of the buyers who, collectively, send tens of thousands of students and travellers to the region, the inaugural Queenstown show was their first experience of the resort.
"It's great for these agents to actually witness Queenstown - it's one thing to see it in a brochure or on TV, but it's great for people to be able to see what we have to offer for themselves."
The trade show was proceeded by a "famil" (familiarisation) taking agents on a walking tour of Queenstown's educational institutions, before travelling to Southern Institute of Technology's Remarkables Park campus - and returning by jet-boat on the Kawarau River.
Queenstown Resort College marketing manager Duncan Sadleir said the chance to be in town and "see it, smell it and touch it" meant many agents who had not sent people here now planned to.
Mr Phillips said feedback from stallholders had been "incredibly positive", especially about the quality of the agents there.
"Queenstown is a bit off the beaten track, so it ensures the agents who generally want to come here are the good-quality ones."
The 2011 Anza workshop on the Gold Coast welcomed 487 participants, with 5002 meetings taking place, whereas last week's workshop had a total of 4227 meetings.
After the workshop ended, about 200 agents attended an Education New Zealand function at the AJ Hackett Kawarau Bungy Centre, with some taking a complimentary plunge.
