An experienced tourism, transport and events leader takes the reins of an ambitious new national platform for New Zealand’s meetings, incentives, conferences and events sector.
AUCKLAND, NEW ZEALAND — 23 July 2026. Benjamin Dale has been appointed Creative Director of MICE.co.nz, taking charge of the development and strategic direction of an ambitious new digital platform built to become one of New Zealand’s most useful, accessible and authoritative resources for the meetings, incentives, conferences, exhibitions and wider business-events sector.
The appointment places an experienced tourism, transport, cruise and business-development leader at the centre of a platform designed to bring together the organisations, venues, suppliers, destinations, services and specialist knowledge that make New Zealand an exceptional place to meet, reward, connect and create.
MICE.co.nz has been developed as a living national resource for an industry that is economically valuable, operationally complex and deeply interconnected. It is intended to serve both sides of the market: the professionals who plan and deliver business events, and the people searching for the right New Zealand destination, venue, supplier, transport partner, experience or local connection.
Under Dale’s leadership, the platform will aim to become far more than a conventional business directory. Its wider ambition is to build a clearly organised, continually developing picture of New Zealand’s MICE capability — making it easier for conference planners, incentive houses, corporate travel managers, destination management companies, professional conference organisers, international buyers, venues, accommodation providers, transport companies and event suppliers to understand what New Zealand can offer.
The platform is being built around accessible industry listings, direct connections with providers, and a transparent information model that distinguishes verified listings, corroborated information and newly discovered organisations awaiting confirmation.
For Dale, the appointment represents a natural next step in a career spent working where tourism, transport, events, logistics, destination storytelling and customer experience meet.
“This is an extraordinary opportunity to help bring together one of New Zealand’s most important and exciting industries,” Dale said. “MICE is not simply about conference rooms, tables, screens and name badges. It is about why people come together — about ideas, relationships, recognition, trade, investment, innovation and the experiences people remember long after an event has finished.”
“New Zealand has world-class venues, extraordinary landscapes, exceptional hospitality and some brilliantly creative people. What has often been missing is a single, ambitious platform determined to tell that complete story.”
Dale brings to MICE.co.nz an unusually broad background spanning international cruise, premium inbound tourism, coach and group transport, events, marketing, sales, destination development and the creation of distinctive visitor experiences.
He spent approximately a decade working aboard cruise ships, travelling through 97 countries and working across every continent. His roles included customer service, retail, training, guest communication and port presentations, giving him direct experience of international visitors, cultural expectations, large-scale hospitality and the demanding environment behind global tourism. That period helped shape a career-long belief that successful tourism and events are ultimately built around human connection.
Dale later worked internationally in New York and Colombia before returning his focus to tourism, transport and destination development in New Zealand. Before moving into senior transport and business-development roles, he led the Akorn and Abercrombie & Kent cruise and group division in New Zealand, managing a significant part of the country’s inbound cruise activity alongside bespoke touring programmes.
That position gave him experience not only as a supplier, but as a major purchaser, planner and coordinator of transport, touring and destination services. It also gave him a practical understanding of what international organisers need from New Zealand partners: accuracy, flexibility, honest communication, cultural awareness, strong local relationships and the ability to solve problems before they become visible to guests.
Dale’s experience has since extended across Kiwi Coaches, Vintage Views and numerous tourism, transport, cruise and events initiatives. At Kiwi Coaches, he has helped strengthen the company’s position across tourism, cruise, conferences, events, schools, premium group travel and nationwide coach movements, working closely on business development, marketing, industry positioning and the wider push to show that transport should be treated as an integral part of the visitor and event experience.
His work with Vintage Views has added another dimension: the development of creative, memorable experiences using vintage London double-decker buses for Auckland sightseeing, corporate occasions, private events and weddings.
Together, those roles have placed Dale on both sides of the events equation. He has purchased and planned services as an inbound tourism professional. He has supplied and coordinated major movements within the transport sector. And he has developed visitor products and worked directly with venues, hotels, attractions, ports, conference organisers, travel companies and international guests.
One of Dale’s priorities will be reducing fragmentation across the New Zealand MICE landscape. The country has an exceptional range of business-event possibilities, but much of its knowledge remains divided between individual venue websites, regional organisations, supplier networks, tourism pages, outdated directories and personal industry relationships.
For international organisers unfamiliar with New Zealand, that fragmentation can create uncertainty. Questions that appear simple can require extensive research:
MICE.co.nz intends to make those questions easier to answer, combining discoverability with practical information so users can explore the country by destination, venue type, capacity, supplier category, experience and event need.
“MICE.co.nz should be useful before an enquiry is sent, while a proposal is being created, and when an event is being delivered,” Dale said. “It needs to work for a conference organiser comparing venues, an offshore buyer considering New Zealand for the first time, a corporate team planning an incentive, and a small regional supplier that deserves to be discovered.”
“The goal is not to place another layer between buyers and businesses. It is to make the industry more visible and connect people directly.”
A major part of Dale’s vision is ensuring MICE.co.nz represents the depth of New Zealand, rather than concentrating only on its largest established centres.
Auckland will remain central to the country’s MICE offering, supported by its international gateway status, hotel inventory, major venues, harbour, dining, attractions and transport infrastructure. Queenstown remains one of the world’s most compelling incentive destinations. Christchurch offers a modern business-events environment connected to the wider South Island. Wellington brings government, culture, creativity and compact-city convenience. Rotorua offers a powerful combination of Māori culture, geothermal landscapes and established group capability.
But Dale believes the wider opportunity is considerably larger. Hamilton, Tauranga, Taupō, the Bay of Islands, Nelson, Marlborough, Dunedin, Hawke’s Bay, Taranaki, Southland and other regional destinations all have distinctive strengths. Some may be ideal for specialist conferences; others offer executive retreats, association events, corporate incentives, regional touring extensions, agribusiness meetings or high-value smaller gatherings.
“MICE does not need to mean thousands of people arriving in one place,” Dale said. “It can be a leadership retreat, a specialist association, a product launch, a reward programme, an educational visit, a government delegation, a trade mission, or a business group looking for something that cannot be replicated anywhere else.”
“New Zealand’s strength is not that every destination is the same. Its strength is that each destination can offer a different story.”
Dale’s transport background is also expected to shape the editorial and practical direction of MICE.co.nz. Transport is one of the most essential elements of a successful conference or incentive programme, yet it is often considered relatively late in the planning process.
Vehicle access, hotel loading areas, airport arrival waves, driver-hour rules, luggage capacity, traffic conditions, venue entrances, dispatch plans and event finishing times can all materially affect a programme. Dale has repeatedly argued that transport is not simply a vehicle arriving at a pickup point; it is a chain of planning decisions that can either support or undermine the entire guest experience.
“Delegates may forget which room a breakout session was in, but they remember being left standing in the rain,” Dale said. “They remember whether their airport arrival was smooth. They remember whether the driver welcomed them. They remember whether the evening function felt effortless or chaotic.”
“MICE.co.nz gives us an opportunity to improve the industry’s practical understanding — not only promote it.”
As Creative Director, Dale will guide the platform’s tone, editorial priorities, industry storytelling and long-term development. His appointment reflects the view that MICE.co.nz must be more than technically functional: it must be engaging enough to make people want to explore New Zealand, authoritative enough to be trusted by industry professionals, and practical enough to support real commercial decisions.
Content is expected to include destination profiles, venue information, supplier listings, planning guides, practical FAQs, industry commentary, event inspiration, transport considerations, incentive ideas and resources for both domestic and international users.
Dale also intends to highlight the people behind the industry. “MICE is powered by thousands of people whose work is often invisible,” he said. “It is the venue coordinator solving a last-minute room change, the chef feeding hundreds of delegates, the driver checking an airport arrival, the technician making the presentation work, the hotel team processing a group arrival, and the local host who makes visitors feel welcome. These people are not peripheral to the industry. They are the industry.”
The appointment signals a significant new chapter for MICE.co.nz, and for Dale personally. It brings together his global tourism experience, New Zealand industry knowledge, creative marketing approach and belief that strong digital resources can make industries easier to understand and more competitive internationally.
“Our ambition is substantial,” Dale said. “We want MICE.co.nz to become the natural starting point for anyone considering a meeting, conference, incentive or business event in New Zealand. We want it to be useful to the experienced professional and understandable to someone entering this market for the first time.”
“We want New Zealand businesses to be found, New Zealand destinations to be considered, and New Zealand’s wider MICE story to be told with confidence. Most importantly, we want to build something the industry sees as its own — open, living, useful and always improving.”
Benjamin Dale is a New Zealand tourism, cruise, transport, events and business-development professional. His career includes approximately ten years working aboard international cruise ships, travel through 97 countries, international business experience, senior leadership of the Akorn and Abercrombie & Kent cruise and group division in New Zealand, and extensive involvement in transport, inbound tourism, destination development, events and visitor experiences. He has held senior commercial, marketing and business-development responsibilities with Kiwi Coaches, and has helped develop Vintage Views, an Auckland tourism and events business built around distinctive vintage London double-decker buses. Dale is known for connecting industry knowledge with storytelling, marketing, destination development and practical problem-solving.
MICE.co.nz is a national digital resource for New Zealand’s meetings, incentives, conferences, exhibitions and business-events industry. The platform is being developed as a living record of New Zealand venues, providers, destinations, services and event capability, helping industry professionals and prospective visitors discover and connect directly with New Zealand businesses.
Media enquiries: Benjamin Dale, MICE.co.nz — https://mice.co.nz