Ashford, Tourism New Zealand’s Special Advisor – Business Events, says: "I consider this to be a real privilege, and I believe I have already made a difference for the wider Asia-Pacific region and members. For New Zealand, I'll continue to promote our involvement in the numerous new initiatives introduced by ICCA, always ensuring that we are recognised as global industry leaders with a proven record of delivering results and being brave."

The Asia-Pacific region was called out in the latest ICCA annual global rankings for a 33% increase in association meetings between 2023 and 2025 'signalling accelerated recovery’, with both New Zealand and the Republic of Korea noted as ‘Early recovery leaders’ for exceeding 2019 levels.

Ashford notes: “I can see so many opportunities for further growth for New Zealand and the wider Asia Pacific region through collaboration. I want people to understand how innovative and forward-thinking Asia-Pacific is. That willingness to “have a go” breeds the sort of solutions-based thinking that’s important for associations.”

She points to the growth in ICCA’s formal education offering at tradeshow AIME (Asia-Pacific Incentives and Meetings Event) in Melbourne as indicative of the region’s development, and has her sights set on further development of the ICCA Asia-Pacific showcase event.

Penelope Ryan, Tourism New Zealand Global Manager Business Events and Event Partnerships, adds: “As the leading association for conferences and conventions globally, representation at ICCA builds New Zealand's business events profile internationally and will open new opportunities for development and collaboration.

“The business events sector was worth $925m to New Zealand in 2025 and we’re on track to achieve 110 international conference bids worth more than $253m in FY27, our most ambitious target to date,” says Ryan.

As the only candidate standing in the region, Ashford was automatically re-elected as the ICCA (International Congress and Convention Association) Board Representative Asia-Pacific for the coming two years.

She was officially re-appointed in the role at the 65th ICCA Congress in Panama.