NZ Marina and Boatyard Conference rescheduled to 23-25 September in Tauranga after AIMS Games clash

The New Zealand Marina Operators Association (NZMOA) will bring its national conference back to Tauranga this year, running the 2026 NZ Marina and Boatyard Conference from Wednesday 23 to Friday 25 September at the Classic Flyers Conference Centre. The three-day gathering is the sector's main annual meeting point for marina and boatyard operators, bringing together delegates from around New Zealand and overseas to work through both strategic industry issues and day-to-day operational problems.

The event was originally scheduled for earlier dates but NZMOA pushed it back after discovering a clash with the AIMS Games, the multi-sport tournament that brings roughly 14,000 people into Tauranga each year. With accommodation set to be scarce and venue access difficult on the original dates, the association opted to move the conference to 23–25 September, holding conference fees unchanged despite the late change.

"We all face similar challenges and so coming together from around New Zealand and abroad, sharing and learning from each other is hugely beneficial," NZMOA chairperson Chris Galbraith said of the event.

The rescheduled programme runs across three distinct days: conference sessions and a trade show on Wednesday 23 September, followed by a casual dinner; further sessions and trade show on Thursday 24 September, capped by the NZMOA awards gala dinner; and, on Friday 25 September, "NZMOA on Tour", an on-water visit to some of Tauranga's marinas and boatyards.

Who runs it

NZMOA is the national industry body for New Zealand's marina and boatyard operators, run by a volunteer executive elected by its members to represent the country's regions and relevant technical specialisms. The current executive is chaired by Chris Galbraith, general manager of maritime at Far North Holdings, with Tom Warren of Waiheke Marina as deputy chair, Phil Wardale as secretary and Gareth Wilson, manager of Auckland's Westhaven Marina, as treasurer. Other executive members are drawn from marinas including Tauranga Bridge Marina, Viaduct Harbour and Whangārei Marina, alongside associate representatives from marine-industry suppliers.

NZMOA also runs member services such as the Clean Marina accreditation programme, a training fund and industry apprenticeship support, and it sits within the wider marine-industry association network as a recognised national body.

Who it's for

The conference is aimed squarely at marina and boatyard professionals — operators, managers and technical staff — rather than the boating public. The published programme is built around issues specific to running marina and boatyard facilities: reform of the Resource Management Act and its likely effect on consents and licences, the political and economic environment facing the sector, with economist Tony Alexander returning to address delegates, Port Nelson's three-year review of health-and-safety practice, and legal guidance on managing unwanted or abandoned boats.

A session on boating demographics and emerging markets is intended to help shape a future industry strategy, and NZMOA is using the event to update members on its major current work programme: developing training to support the sector's future workforce. A trade show for industry suppliers runs alongside the conference sessions, and the event includes NZMOA's sector awards — Marina of the Year, Boatyard of the Year, Outstanding Initiative and Outstanding Individual Contribution to the Industry — presented at the Thursday gala dinner.

The venue

The conference is confirmed on NZMOA's own events calendar as being held at the Classic Flyers Conference Centre. Classic Flyers is an aviation-heritage museum and function venue at 9 Jean Batten Drive, Mount Maunganui, sited at the entrance to Tauranga Airport — a two-minute walk from the terminal — and about a 10-minute drive from Tauranga's city centre, according to regional tourism body Bay of Plenty NZ.

The venue offers six meeting spaces with a theatre capacity of up to 600 and banquet capacity of up to 500, giving it the scale to host a national conference, trade show and awards dinner under one roof. The airport-adjacent location also removes one of the more common logistical headaches for regional conferences: delegates flying in for a multi-day event can walk from arrivals to the venue rather than needing a transfer.

Why it matters for New Zealand business events

This is a small but telling case study in how a niche national association manages a recurring regional conference. NZMOA's public rescheduling — moving its own event once it recognised a date clash with a much larger, unrelated Tauranga event — is a reminder of how tightly regional accommodation and venue capacity can be squeezed by concurrent major happenings in a mid-sized New Zealand city, and how organisers increasingly need to track other calendar activity in a host city, not just book a venue and set a date.

For Tauranga and the wider Bay of Plenty, hosting the sector's peak body event brings a multi-day, out-of-region delegate base into the city outside peak tourist season, with the added logistical convenience of an airport-based venue. For the marine and boatyard sector itself, the conference functions as the industry's main forum for grappling with regulatory change — RMA reform chief among it in 2026 — and for setting collective direction on ageing marina infrastructure, licence renewals and workforce training.