Tourism and Hospitality Minister Louise Upston announced yesterday the government was investing a total of $70m across multiple funding packages aimed at boosting major events and tourism projects.
This included a $40m package to secure large-scale international events from 2026, a $10m contestable one-off fund to support existing events and attract international opportunities, a $10m tourism campaign to incentivise international visitors and up to another $10m for tourism infrastructure upgrades, including cycle trails.
This “significant injection of new money” combined with existing funding would help events and tourism to grow, Ms Upston said.
“This $70m events and tourism investment package is about energising the events sector.
“The investment will allow New Zealand to compete with Australia to host big acts and will give international visitors even more reasons to come and explore New Zealand, while also encouraging Kiwis to get out and about.”
Most of the announcement was intended to deliver events beginning next year, and the full package would be rolled out over the next two years.
It was significant for local communities and local government, Ms Upston said.
“Communities up and down New Zealand benefit hugely from events, and it’s important that local government is also involved in supporting activity in their regions with resources, in cash or in kind.”
Mr Radich said the announcement “dovetails very nicely” with the council’s recently adopted Dunedin Festivals and Events Plan 2025.
“We’re well down the track, we’ve done the initial first step.
“So this is something that can really put some flesh on the bones.
“I think we’ll be in a good position to make an application and have our fair share of money.”
Ms Upston’s comment about the role of local government was “interesting … in comparison to their talk of a rates cap and no more nice-to-haves”.
Public entertainment and local events were both things people were very keen to have, and the council was working hard on plans for next year, Mr Radich said.
With a bit of work, it was something the city could take “great advantage of”.
“Having [the] advantage of this fund, when we’ve got a range of irons in the fire and plans on paper, this will be helpful with bringing them to fruition, I expect.”
Queenstown Lakes District Mayor Glyn Lewers welcomed the investment.
He expected the $40m events attraction package would be mainly directed at Auckland and Christchurch as they could handle major international events.
Both also had direct links through to Queenstown and the district had the infrastructure to get visitors there, such as air connectivity with Auckland and to Australia.
“Any investment in major events in our major cities does have a flow-on effect, especially for the Queenstown Lakes district — it’s just a fact.
“They’ll come down for another further two days because if they’ve travelled so far to Auckland or Christchurch, they will look around to other areas of New Zealand.
“And Queenstown is one of those areas that is quite strong on the list.”
The investment would be significant to places that were struggling, Mr Lewers said.
“But to expect local government to stump up cash when the government so far hasn’t been forthcoming and actually helping deliver underlying infrastructure, it’s not probably the best way of going about it.
“Especially given that we’ve been told in no uncertain terms [to] concentrate on core business, are they suggesting that events are core business for local government?”
