Why Tauranga’s major events need to deliver more than visitor spending

The challenge for event funders is knowing the difference.

That means looking beyond headline visitor numbers and asking what remains once the audience moves on.

The best events leave something useful behind, or have advanced tourism or trade relationships with important markets.

That’s a key reason I think major events like the Aims Games, and carefully selected international events, are an important part of the Western Bay’s economic strategy.

Every September, around 10,000 Aims Gamers arrive in the region, alongside coaches, officials and supporters. The majority come from outside the region and stay for several days, bringing spending into local accommodation, hospitality and tourism businesses.

They arrive at a time when our economy has capacity, ensuring that much of that spending is genuinely additional, rather than simply competing with business that was already going to occur.

Aims athletes experiencing the city may begin forming impressions about where they might one day study, work or live. For some, the Aims Games will be their first meaningful introduction to the Bay of Plenty.

Not every visitor returns, of course. But every positive experience creates possibilities that would not have existed if the event had been held somewhere else.

The same principle applies to the region itself.

The sporting facilities, fields and infrastructure needed to host the Aims Games are not used for one week each year. They support local schools, clubs and community sport year-round.

The experience gained by organisers, volunteers and businesses becomes part of the region’s capability. The accommodation capacity required to host visitors supports future opportunities.

That’s why the type of event matters just as much as the number of people it attracts.

For instance, international cricket matches involving teams from India, Australia or England do more than create a weekend’s worth of spending. It places Tauranga in front of audiences from some of New Zealand’s most important trade and tourism markets.

The World Triathlon events planned for Tauranga over the next three years present a similar opportunity. International athletes and support teams are visitors, but their supporters and sponsors often have global investment and commercial networks that our local business community could benefit from while they’re here.

Of course, not every business benefits equally from every event.

While some experience increased demand, others experience disruption. That’s one reason why headline economic impact figures should always be treated with a degree of caution.

I think we should think strategically about which audience is attracted to the event, what impression they are left with, and what opportunities emerge from it.

The best events do more than attract a crowd. They help advance our wider economic goals, strengthen our reputation, build capability, and connect us with people and markets who may shape the region’s future.

Those events stop being attractions. They become assets.

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