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It has started - the rugby fans may be in counselling - the business community is already revving up for what promises to be the best World Cup Ever - perhaps even with the new ELVs
Big cities and the heartland will both reap profit from rugby fans
5:00AM Friday October 26, 2007
By Mike Houlahan
Eden Park
Eden Park
Rugby World Cup
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Tourism bosses started planning for the next rugby World Cup a year before the just completed tournament kicked off.
About 70,000 overseas visitors are expected to descend on New Zealand in 2011 to cheer their country's rugby teams on and Tourism New Zealand has already begun trying to run that score up.
The controversial "giant rugby ball" promotion in Paris saw thousands of fans get a taste of what New Zealand has to offer - other than world-class rugby. At the same time the Frontrow Club - an email campaign fronted by Tana Umaga - was launched.
"Our strategy is twofold," Tourism New Zealand chief executive George Hickton said.
"One, can we get people down beforehand because they are interested to come? If not, can we get them to do more while they are here?
"The next part of our communication programme is linked around where the teams are going to be based when they come down. When that decision is made, we will then use that as a way of communicating to those people what there is to see and do in that region."
France, which gets 80 million tourists a year, had 350,000 visitors specifically for the rugby World Cup.
In contrast, New Zealand is expecting 70,000 cup tourists - a smaller number, but a higher percentage of annual visitor numbers.
Major events like the British and Irish Lions tour and the 2006 Golden Oldies World Rugby Festival had shown New Zealand could do a good job of hosting rugby tourists, Mr Hickton said. Trials like that meant New Zealand was ready for the true test - a rugby World Cup.
"There will be challenges but it's not like it will completely overpower the country. It's just a matter of being a little innovative," Mr Hickton said.
"At the time of the rugby World Cup, the total number of tourists in New Zealand will be about the same as we would have in February or March. Tourism is our number one industry: it's not as if we can't handle this number of tourists.
"At the time the rugby World Cup is on we will have more people in the country who are not interested in rugby than who are."
Tourism Industry Association chief executive Fiona Luhrs said the Lions tour had been a good dry-run for the rugby World Cup and the proper infrastructure should be in place by 2011.
"I'd be very confident that it will work," Ms Luhrs said.
"In September last year we had 168,000 visitors, so add 70,000 on top of that. In December last year we had 319,000 visitors, so there is definitely room from a capacity point of view - more than enough room.
"What will be a little bit different is that a number of them will be trying to get to the same place at the same time."
Work would need to be done to ensure enough public transport was available to get tourists from game to game, Ms Luhrs said.
The length of the tournament meant more than just the big cities would cash in.
Likewise, more than obvious candidates, like hoteliers and attraction owners, would be expecting a windfall - retailers, vineyards, food outlets could also expect a rugby-fuelled increase in turnover.
"It really will get right out into heartland New Zealand," Ms Luhrs said.
"You are right at the end of the low season in September and you are really hanging out for visitors to come and start giving you some more cash."
61 years between Grand SlamsWas the wait worth it - Ya betta baby
I would have thought more than 70,000 fans would turn up for the world cup...
Brother Gallagher I hear you
That, No 8, is because they plan to have less team - due to limited infrastructure.
What they obviously expect is 20% of the last attendance, due to the fact they have 20% of the hotels, beds, stadia, roads etc.
Also if too many people turn up at one place - Kiwis are afraid of the Island tipping over.
I think we got 120,000 international visitors to the 2003 world cup. I think it would take a *lot* of work to make this run smoothly for NZ. I was in Auckland this time last year when a U2 concert was on and people were struggling big time to get hostels/hotels and that was a Kiwis only event. If 120,000 people did come in addition to regular tourists you'd almost be adding an extra 1/10th of the country's population.
maybe we could entice a few kiwi`s with a holiday in bondi and a few pictures of our pretty sheep.
Chuck Norris has the greatest Poker-Face of all time. He won the 1983 World Series of Poker, despite holding only a Joker, a Get out of Jail Free Monopoly card, a 2 of clubs, 7 of spades and a green #4 card from the game Uno.
Just over 40 000 people came to Australia for RWC 2003
WE all love the game but lets not kid ourselves the RWC is hardly a huge sporting event
Anyway i Doubt i will be attending As i won't live in Australia under a rudd government and the RWC in NZ was just a corrupt shambles that I won't support It shoudl of gone to Japan!
Isn't it the third biggest sporting event in the world? Only behind Olympics and the Soccer World Cup. Soccer has more games and if you count each Olympic even then they have 100's of more games then Rugby. Would be interesting to see on a per event/game type list where the Rugby World Cup would rank.
Must be that it's the third biggest world event. Just checked on Wikipedia and UEFA gets a bigger attendance then Rugby World Cup.
But I definetly read in a couple different places that the Rugby World Cup is the third biggest sporting event in the World. So it must be for a world wide competition because UEFA is obviously just Euro teams.