Recipients Announced For The Third And Final Round Of The Southern Lakes Regional Events Fund

Thursday, 28 April 2022, 2:16 pm
Press Release: Destination Queenstown

28 April 2022 (Queenstown, NZ) – The Southern Lakes Events Investment Panel has announced the successful recipients of the third and final round of the Southern Lakes Regional Events Fund (REF). Funding for this final round was granted to 26 events to be held within the Southern Lakes region between April 2022 and April 2023, and totalled $2,338,000 in investment.

The events that secured funding are collectively set to attract over 150,000 out-of-region visitors, delivering an additional 400,000 bed nights and $80 million in visitor expenditure across Queenstown, Wānaka and Central Otago.

Southern Lakes Events Investment Panel Chair, Murray Strong, said the Panel is delighted to be able to support another 26 events in the wider region, scheduled for the next 12 months.

“The overwhelming number of high-quality applications received shows that the events industry is back and ready for action. There is a wide mix of events supported in this round, ranging from large-scale with international appeal, to medium and small events with a domestic focus.

“There are a number of new events which have come to fruition as a result of this REF funding which is great to see. We are also excited to welcome back some of the iconic events that have been impacted by COVID-19, such as Winter Games, New Zealand Open, Winter Pride and more. These events attract an international market bringing significant economic benefit to the region and help to bolster the region’s vibrant events calendar,” said Mr Strong.

Success of the REF funding is measured via economic, social and sustainability criteria with weighting towards the economic benefit that events bring, to replace the loss of international visitation to the Southern Lakes region. The Southern Lakes Investment Panel is focused on developing a balanced events portfolio of small, medium and large-scale events to provide compelling reasons to visit the wider region year-round.

The Southern Lakes Regional Events fund is part of the government’s $50 million Regional Events Fund which aims to stimulate domestic tourism by supporting events. It is designed to stimulate travel between regions through holding events and helping to replace some of the spend lost from international tourists because of COVID-19.

The fund is available to International Marketing Alliance (IMA) groupings of the Regional Tourism Organisations (RTO’s). The Southern Lakes Regional Events Fund is shared between the IMA grouping of Destination Queenstown, Lake Wānaka Tourism and Tourism Central Otago.

For more information on the Southern Lakes Regional Events Fund and to see the full list of successful round three funding recipients, please visit the website.
 

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