Travel to Christchurch

Christchurch suffered major damage and loss of life in the 2011 earthquake. Twelve years on, the rebuilding continues with government investment to build a new central library, Tūranga, and convention centre, Te Pae. Amidst those anchor projects, the city is a patchwork of new, modern buildings, empty lots where buildings once stood, and derelict structures that have yet to be demolished. Within the rubble, creative opportunities emerged with one non-profit, Gap Filler, providing temporary installations in the empty spaces – their most popular one has been a laundry machine on a dance floor with speakers where you can get 30 minutes of play time on your phone for a $2 coin in the machine.

While the city still maintains its position of the second largest in New Zealand with 500,000 people, where those people live has changed significantly with them shifting from the Residential Red Zone to areas further away from the downtown. Coupled with this fluid building context and change in residential areas, the city has taken the opportunity to reinvigorate its bicultural linkages with a Te o Māori cultural narrative now much more prominent than before the earthquake.

Christchurch is an ideal location for a PCC Conference focused on resilience, sustainability, and the SDGs as it is probably the most dynamic city in the world with so much that was destroyed and so much that is now happening. It is literally a living laboratory for urban design that is informed by what now know about the use of spaces that we didn’t 12 years ago.

Air Travel

For air travel, conference attendees should fly into Christchurch International Airport.

Immigration Requirement

The New Zealand Government introduced a new travel requirement for some visitors and transit passengers from 1 October 2019. It’s called the NZeTA (New Zealand Electronic Travel Authority) and travellers need to request theirs via the official mobile app or website. Approval can take up to 72 hours, so get yours before you go.

Visit immigration.govt.nz/nzeta to find out if you need one.

Visitors who are not required to have a visa will still need to show: 

• A return travel ticket or evidence of onward travel arrangements 

• Evidence that you have sufficient money available to fund your visit. 

For everything you need to know about visiting New Zealand please visit the New Zealand Immigration website.

Participants of the PCC Conference would apply for a Visitor Visa, not an Academic Visa. There are a number of countries where the visa is waived.

Accommodation

Shuttles will be picking up and dropping off conference participants near the four hotels listed below.  if staying at other hotels, participants should arrange to meet at pickup locations near designated hotels or plan their own transport to/from the conference locations 

There are four hotels recommended by the conference organizers around Tūranga in the CBD.

• Novotel: $322 NZD/night

• Distinction: $265 NZD/night

  • Below is the Distinction Hotel's link and promo code for the Pacific Circle Consortium Conference 2023.  Agreed rates are valid from 07 Nov 2023 to 12 Nov 2023.  Guests are also more than welcome to contract the hotel directly and rates will be honoured.  Guests may also book days outside of the noted dates, which will be based on the hotel’s rate of the day at the time of booking, not the conference rate.

    • www.distinctionhotelschristchurch.co.nz/PCC2023, promo code: PCC23

• Fable (formerly Rendezvous): $138 NZD/night

• Crowne Plaza: $296 NZD/night