Big step forward for event promotion in Hawke's Bay

Hawke’s Bay Tourism has taken the first step in cementing a collaborative approach for events in Hawke’s Bay by appointing a Regional Events Manager.

This appointment was identified as one of the key outcomes from the wider Regional Events Strategy, defined in 2010.

Annie Dundas, General Manager of Hawke’s Bay Tourism says “This role is vital as events play a key part in the wider promotion of Hawke’s Bay which is why we undertook the development of a co-ordinated and cohesive regional strategy. The vision is to build our destination brand and profile, provide economic return to the region, attract new and return visitors and maximise the utilisation of our current infrastructure’

Rebecca McPherson has been appointed to the position of Regional Events Manager for a fixed term period of twelve months and will co-ordinate all regional promotion marketing and event activity. She starts on February 16th and will be based at the Hawke’s Bay Tourism Office and will work alongside key stakeholders across the region to ensure the region is well coordinated when it comes to event promotion. It is hoped this role will be jointly-funded by key stakeholders beyond the twelve month period.

In addition to the appointment Hawke’s Bay now has one united online event calendar. http://events.hawkesbaynz.com

Powered by Event Finder, the calendar is a one stop shop for all events and will supply online feeds to other sites including the official regional tourism website www.hawkesbaynz.com . The online merge of one event calendar means event managers will only need to enter their event once in order for it to appear on multiple sites. Napier City Council, Hastings District Council and Central Hawke’s Bay Promotions will also subscribe to the Event Calendar.

The idea for the online events calendar came from local digital entrepreneur Rod Drury and was designed by Havelock North based web company Mogul in conjunction with Eventfinder and includes i-pad and i-phone compatibility. “This calendar is a one-stop shop, Mogul have built an easy to use, friendly site that houses all Hawke’s Bay events”, says Annie Dundas “It works for event managers in planning their events as well as locals and visitors who can see the most comprehensive list of what is on in Hawke’s Bay”.
The combined calendar for regional events is the first of its kind in New Zealand for Event Finder. James McGlinn, CTO from Eventfinder said they were very pleased to partner with Hawke's Bay Tourism to help promote and support the events and live entertainment community in the region.

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