The city of Auckland which is located near the northern tip of the North Island of New Zealand is the country’s largest urban settlement. This vibrant city is situated on a narrow isthmus that was created nearly 50,000 years ago by volcanic eruptions in the rugged hills that surround the city today. Auckland is not the capital of New Zealand but the city is its economic center which is also home to the country’s largest Polynesian population. It is estimated that these Polynesian people arrived in New Zealand over 1000 years ago. However like in other parts of the world, these indigenous people experienced a drastic reduction in their populations with the arrival of the Europeans in the 1820s. Historical records indicate that British bought the land that comprises the city of Auckland today from a local Maori tribe for a princely sum of £55 and a few blankets. The British then went on to establish Auckland as the capital of the country but the city lost this position to Wellington in 1856. Auckland presently is a lively, bustling city which boasts of a vibrant waterfront and an ever expanding Central Business District (CBD) which is largely centered on lower Queen Street and the Viaduct Basin, two areas which have the most expensive office space in the city.

Auckland’s key industries are closely tied with its geography which is characterized by glistening natural harbors and fertile lands. The main industries in Auckland include marine construction, food and beverage manufacturing, metals, plastics and chemicals engineering and manufacturing, health services and film, television, radio and media. Most of New Zealand’s most prominent companies like Abano Healthcare group, Air New Zealand Limited, APN News and Media, ASB Bank Limited, Carter Holt Harvey Limited, Datacom Group Limited, Goodman Fielder New Zealand Ltd, Fonterra Co-operative Group Limited and several others have offices in Auckland as do many multinational corporations like McDonald’s, Vodafone New Zealand Ltd, Works Infrastructure Limited and Tyco New Zealand Ltd.

Auckland which is often referred to ‘the City of Sails’ due to the popularity of maritime pursuits amongst its residents is consistently voted one of the best lifestyle cities in the world and in a recent survey conducted by the businessman’s bible, the Economist, Auckland achieved a high ranking tenth place in the index of the World’s Most Livable Cities 2010. The city which is renowned for its many idyllic outlying islands, beaches, art galleries, vineyards and restaurants is also a popular meetings, incentives, conferences and events destination in the southern hemisphere. Accordingly the city is equipped with a unique convention and meeting locale in the form of the centrally located Auckland Convention Center which is made up of three landmark buildings namely the contemporary Aotea Centre, the heritage Auckland Town Hall, and the ornate The Civic building which sports the 1920’s style of architecture.

Getting to Auckland from anywhere in the world is also easy as the city is well served by the Auckland Airport which is located at a distance of 21 km (14 miles) from its Central Business District. This airport which is New Zealand’s largest and busiest airport connects Auckland to a wide array of domestic and international destinations.

Additionally Auckland is also equipped with a wide range of business hotels which cater to every kind of travel budget like the Rydges Auckland Hotel which offers conference facilities as does the Novotel Auckland Ellerslie, the Stamford Plaza Hotel, the Langham Auckland which is an old world luxury hotel and the small boutique hotel property, Hotel DeBrett which is located in the heart of the city.

In terms of after-hours entertainment, the kiwi city whose residents relish their outdoorsy lifestyle also has much to offer in the form of over 500 km of walking trails and 22 leafy parks like the Auckland Domain, the Albert Park and the Auckland Botanic Gardens. For the culture -loving business traveler, Auckland offers a plethora of museums and galleries like the National Maritime Museum, the Auckland Museum and the Auckland Art Gallery which is made up of the New and the Heritage galleries. Another popular landmark in the city is its sky touching Sky Tower which at 328 meters is an observation and communications tower which is the tallest free-standing structure in the Southern Hemisphere. Auckland is also not lacking in the restaurant department for the city is packed with various diverse restaurants and bars like the Anglesea Grill, the Kermadec the, Iguaçu, the Euro and the Grand Harbour which are especially favored by the city’s business crowd.

Aside from these permanent attractions, Auckland also hosts year round events and festivals like the Auckland Anniversary Day Regatta, the Waiheke Jazz Festival, Auckland International Film Festival, the Wine Waitakere and the Auckland Cup which also help to entertain the many visitors who arrive at Auckland’s shores on business all throughout the year.

If you need to travel to Auckland for business or a work related conference or seminar ,your journey from the US will most definitely involve an extremely long haul flight which may or may not have a layover in an Asian city. The only way you can hope to arrive in Auckland in meeting-ready shape is to travel in the business class cabin of your preferred carrier though business class tickets to New Zealand from the US are prohibitively expensive as they are usually are priced over $9000. If you or your colleagues need to make this transcontinental trip a couple of times a year then these huge costs can eat into your company’s annual travel budget quite rapidly.

However your company can easily manage to procure cheap business class travel deals by partnering with a travel solutions company like the New York City based Fare Buzz which specializes in cheap business class airfares. Through its contracts with over sixty domestic and international airlines Fare Buzz is able to procure cheap business class flights to nearly every destination in the world. It is worth mentioning that these cheap business class tickets come with all the perks that are normally associated with regular business class tickets like mileage accrual and pre-assigned seats. Further the customer service team at Fare Buzz which is available on all seven days of the week is made up of knowledgeable and experienced personnel who are dedicated to finding the most cost effective business class travel packages for their clients. So why wait any longer? Pick up the phone and call Fare Buzz at 1-800-847-1963 to score the ‘best’ business travel deal for your trip to ‘the City of Sails’ today.