Volvo Ocean Race Stopover Under Budget

Media release
24 May 2012

Auckland’s Volvo Ocean Race Stopover in March 2012 has returned a $201,000 surplus on budget.

The $201,000 surplus was announced today by Local Organising Committee Chairman Sir John Wells and welcomed by the Stopover event owner Auckland Tourism, Events and Economic Development (ATEED)

ATEED General Manager Destination, Rachael Dacy congratulated Sir John and Mayo&, the event delivery team, on the successful management of a world class event, and the positive financial return to Auckland ratepayers.

“This is an excellent result and reflects the prudent financial management of all parties involved”, Ms Dacy says.

The surplus will be returned to the event funders. The surplus was one of a number of positive outcomes from the Auckland Stopover.

Economic Impact report findings reveal that the Auckland Stopover generated an additional $6 million in GDP to the Auckland economy.

“Overall the Auckland leg of the Volvo Ocean Race was a significant win for Auckland with a 194 percent regional return on investment. More than 80 Auckland businesses were contracted directly to the event, with an estimated 450 – 550 temporary positions created”, Ms Dacy says.

“This result is very commendable given the challenging economic environment and late arrival of the boats, due to inclement weather delaying the fleet’s departure from Sanya”, Ms Dacy says.

Visitor numbers to the waterfront race village exceeded 275,000 and 98 percent of them were satisfied with the experience. The event also generated 14,692 international and domestic visitor nights.

These outcomes, including the GDP impact and visitor nights generated, demonstrate why the Volvo Ocean Race Stopover aligns perfectly with Auckland’s Major Events Strategy.

Chairman of the management executive, Sir John Wells reserved special praise for Tom Mayo and his team at Mayo& Ltd for their management and delivery of the event.

“Contracting, managing and overseeing the work of over 450 staff and volunteers over a 6 - 8 day period is no small undertaking. The leadership and management demonstrated by the events team will only strengthen Auckland’s bid for a future stopover leg in 2014/15”, Sir John says.

We can confirm today that Auckland has been automatically selected as a candidate to proceed through to the next phase of the bid process for the 12th and 13th editions of the Ocean Race.

Auckland is one of thirty three cities being considered to host a leg of the 2014/15 event.

No decision has been made at this stage on whether Auckland will proceed to the next phase of the bid process. This is expected to be announced in September 2012.

Ends

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