Christchurch ‘practically sold out’ because of Electric Avenue

Friday, 21 February 2025

About 70,000 people are expected to attend the two-day festival at Hagley Park this weekend.

Christchurch has almost sold out of accommodation as tens of thousands of people descend on the Garden City for Electric Avenue.

The two-day music festival at Hagley Park has prompted Christ’s College campus next door to close early on Friday, with the school encouraging its boarders to go home for the weekend.

The music festival, which kicks off on Friday, will welcome 70,000 festival-goers across two days, with more than two thirds of ticket holders coming from outside the city.

Tens of thousands of festival goers attend Electric Avenue from out of town, packing out hotels and motels in Christchurch.

Accommodation in the city was fast running out.

Christchurch was “practically sold out” both Friday and Saturday nights, according to Hotel Council Aotearoa, which advocates on behalf of New Zealand’s 360 hotels.

Riccarton motels were booked up because of the area’s close walking distance to Hagley Park. (File image)

A search on booking.com for a room in Christchurch for Friday and Saturday nights showed 98% of places were booked, with most of the remaining accommodation costing at least $1000.

Deans Bush Motel manager Asong Vheng said interest had been “crazy” because of the music festival.

Festival goers in Christchurch on Thursday.

The motel on Riccarton Rd was fully booked, and so were all its neighbouring accommodation businesses, Vheng said. On most weekends, it would have a couple of rooms spare.

Kauri Motel on Riccarton owner Kanika Sharma said its eight rooms were booked three months out. Riccarton was an attractive area because of its close walking distance to Hagley Park, she said.

“Every motel is booked today, or every other motel [that has space has] prices really high, $1500 or $1600 per night,” Sharma said. “Electric Ave is a very big event.”

The two-day event is expected to generate more than $7m in visitor spend for the city.

James Doolan, Hotel Council Aotearoa’s strategic director, said the accommodation demand demonstrated “the huge appeal of Electric Ave”.

At some hotels, 50% of guests were in town to attend the festival, he said.

“Festivals like Electric Ave inject much needed spending and activity into our town-centres. Bars, restaurants, transport businesses and retailers get a huge boost, not just accommodation providers,” Doolan said.

Electric Avenue 2024 attracted 35,000 festival-goers as a one day event.

“If we want to grow the visitor economy, we need to incentivise local authorities to host and support more and more events, but to do that, communities must share in the financial returns.”

ChristchurchNZ head of major events Karena Finnie said last year’s Electric Avenue event was “Christchurch’s most economically beneficial major event”.

Christ’s College will close early on Friday because of the festival.

The regional development agency estimated close to 20,000 attendees were from outside of Ōtautahi, and the event would generate 35,000 visitor nights and bring in more than $7 million in visitor spend.

“ChristchurchNZ is thrilled to support Electric Avenue’s evolution to a two-day festival, meaning twice the music and twice the play,” Finnie said.

Last year, Electric Avenue exceeded $6.3m in visitor spending with more than 30,000 visitor nights.

This year is the first time the event will be run over two days. Previously, it had been held on a Saturday, which did not affect Christ’s College students.

“We decided it was safer for our students to finish at 12.50pm on Friday due to the high numbers expected to attend the festival,” Christ’s College principal Joe Eccleton said.

“We have encouraged boarders to return home for the weekend. Any remaining boarders will be housed on the Christ’s College campus.”

Hagley Parkrun will run an alternate course on Saturday morning due to the event. The course map can be found on the Hagley Parkrun Facebook page.

Festival gates open at 2pm on Friday and 1.30pm on Saturday. There is no parking at the site, but drop off zones are located on Kilmore St (between Cranmer Square and Park Tce) and Harper Ave. Public transport will also get you close to the venue, with the number 8 bus travelling down Park Tce and the number 29 travelling down Harper Ave.

Road closures on Friday and Saturday, from 7pm-11.59pm:

Armagh St from Cranmer Sq West to Park Tce

Park Tce from Chester St West to Armagh St

Rolleston Ave from Park Tce to Gloucester St

Park Tce from Bealey Ave to Dorset St