Christchurch hotel set to welcome Golden Oldies to town
20 February 2018
One local Christchurch hotel owner is counting down the days until the Golden Oldies come to town, confirming record
bookings for the month of April.
Debbie Horncastle, general manager at Christchurch’s iconic Pavilions Hotel, says April is generally an average month
for the hotel sector as corporate travel slows down due to various public and school holidays.
But thanks to the Christchurch Casino Golden Oldies Sports Celebration, to be held from 1 – 29th of April, her 92-room
hotel is fully booked for two weeks during the popular cricket and rugby events, with other rooms filling up fast.
“Golden Oldies is a great event for Christchurch and we’re delighted to have been chosen as one of the partner hotels to
host our Golden guests,” Ms Horncastle says.
Over 5,000 mature age sports enthusiasts from 12 different countries will descend on Christchurch during the month of
April, marking one of the city’s largest sporting events and the first time in history all iconic Golden Oldies games
are held in the same city.
City host and major events agency ChristchurchNZ are supporting the iconic international sporting event and Linda
Falwasser, General Manager of Attraction, says the sports festival is a great celebration and opportunity for the people
of Christchurch to share their new city with the world.
“Christchurch is open and ready to welcome visitors and I’m sure the local business community will agree that we have so
many amazing sights, services and experiences to share with our visitors,” Ms Falwasser says.
Ms Horncastle says major events like the Golden Oldies are key to sustaining local businesses and raising Christchurch’s
profile as a travel destination.
“These big events are so important and we need more. Since the earthquake there’s been a lot of changes and it’s been a
lot of hard work,” she says. “It’s clear we need more events like this to support the hotel industry.”
Ms Horncastle her family-owned and managed hotel and staff are very excited to be hosting the players and their
supporters.
“We’re all big fans of the Golden Oldies and it will be great to have them staying with us,” she says, adding, “We’ll be
giving them all a welcome drink at the bar when they arrive.”
ENDS