Tourism Auckland Welcomes News Of Team NZ Grant

Tourism Auckland today welcomed news that Auckland City has agreed to support Team New Zealand with a $650,000 grant to help stage the America's Cup.

Tourism Auckland Chief Executive Graeme Osborne said the America's Cup was the biggest event held in New Zealand and had huge economic spin-offs for both the Auckland region and the rest of the country.

A Government-commissioned economic benefit report on the last Cup estimated the total impact on the country to be $640 million, with $473 million of that going to the Auckland region. The equivalent of 8000 full-time jobs was created in the Auckland region.

Auckland also reported a 14.7 per cent increase in guest nights for the year ended April 2000.

"On top of that, the Auckland region got invaluable publicity through the media attention on the event and the destination," says Mr Osborne.

"Positive images of the Auckland region were beamed by print and broadcast media to a global audience of an estimated 400 million. We have to make the most of this opportunity again and invest in the event's success."

Tourism Auckland expects the returns to be even greater from the 2002/2003 event and has made a significant investment in marketing initiatives.

Tourism Auckland has produced a series of promotional publications aimed at yachting syndicate members and their supporters, and has been working with UK-based tour wholesalers to produce and promote travel packages to the event. Tourism Auckland is also working with Tourism New Zealand and Trade New Zealand to promote Auckland through a worldwide roadshow. Tourism Auckland will also assist media visiting Auckland for the event to produce stories about the destination, and will produce a comprehensive events calendar for visitors.

ENDS

About Tourism Auckland Tourism Auckland's mission is to develop sustainable economic growth in tourism for the Auckland region through integrated marketing and industry development. It is funded by grants from Auckland City, Manukau City, Waitakere City, North Shore City, Rodney District and Franklin District. Tourism Auckland operates six visitor information centres and its areas of expertise include international market ing, conventions and incentives, events marketing and media services.

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