'Devastating' impact if events money cut

Thursday, 1 February 2024

Tens of millions of dollars is at risk, as well as Christchurch’s growing reputation as a host of major events, if the city council stops investing in a crucial events fund for three years.

Christchurch City councillor Andrei Moore says the move — recommended by mayor Phil Mauger — would be devastating to Christchurch’s events ecosystem.

“The really troubling part of this is that it would leave nothing to bid for events for the first year of Te Kaha being open,” he said.

The Events Ecosystem Fund — which ChristchurchNZ applies for every three years — is behind bringing global sporting events SailGP and Crankworx, and musicians like Elton John and Foo Fighters, to Christchurch.

It gets major events into council-owned and commercial venues across the city, and even attracts performers to Electric Avenue.

But Mauger told his colleagues at the public long-term plan (LTP) briefing in December that he recommended deferring the fund for three years, in the context of keeping rates rises low.

Councillors will decide which recommendations make it into the draft plan at a public council meeting on February 14. It will then go out for public consultation.

On Wednesday, a council spokesperson said the idea came from the chief executive officer, rather than Mauger, but did not clarify if that was interim chief executive Mary Richardson or Dawn Baxendale, who went on leave a month prior but was involved in the LTP process.

Mauger did not explain why he supported freezing the fund, or if he was concerned about Christchurch missing out on big events or the impact it could have on Te Kaha stadium’s first year of operation, when asked by The Press.

Loren Aberhart, ChristchurchNZ’s general manager for tourism and destination, said when it came to major events, “Christchurch hasn’t been on the map like this since before the quakes”.

“Prior to hosting [SailGP] nobody thought that Christchurch was able to do such a big event … it’d be a shame to lose that momentum,” she said.

ChristchurchNZ has asked for $2.9m over the next three years. As part of its pitch, it looked at past events and projected that for every $1 council spends on major events, the return on investment is $11 on average.

For major business events, like international conferences, the return on investment is $35 on average for every $1 spent by the council.

It estimated that for the 2022-23 financial year alone, major events generated over $35m in visitor spend.

Aberhart said a three year gap in funding could result in a six year gap in large-scale events coming to the city, as bids were often made years in advance and the international market was highly competitive.

The agency was working towards a bid for the International Masters Games in 2030, the value of which Aberhart said would be on a par with the Commonwealth Games — as athletes were more likely to stay longer and bring friends or whānau — but it couldn’t proceed without the fund.

Without funding, Aberhart said ChristchurchNZ wouldn’t be able to secure major events for Te Kaha stadium — which opens in mid-2026 — for its first year.

She said the new multi-purpose arena would be perfect for major events, and Christchurch residents may be disappointed if it couldn’t host something big and start generating revenue.

Aberhart said ChristchurchNZ knew it was a constrained financial environment, but they were confident with their numbers, and it would be a shame to not build on the city’s momentum.

Caroline Harvie-Teare, chief executive of Venues Ōtautahi, the council-owned company that will manage Te Kaha, said she could not comment on the draft LTP before it was finalised.

She said for the current financial year, Venues Ōtautahi will deliver about 390 events, four of which were attracted by the bid incentive fund.