Apec Schools: The cost

The Apec bash will be expensive, but it will also be lucrative. More than 6000 extra visitors are coming to town over the next two weeks. Providing accommodation, food, security, transport and entertainment for that many people will strain the city's resources, but local businesses will cash in. By Greta Shirley and Peter Griffin

The economic consultants Infometrics estimate that Apec will pump $27 million into the New Zealand economy as a whole - and Auckland City is expected to make a further $30 million.

The hotel industry will be the biggest beneficiary. The Apec Taskforce's accommodation director, Damien Keenan, said 6000 rooms would be needed to house the Apec visitors. Most of the visitors will be in central Auckland hotels and many will build future business as a result.

A night at the Sheraton Hotel in the top suite will cost the leaders more than $370, while the best room at the Stamford Plaza will cost nearly $400.

Meanwhile restaurateurs are preparing to cater to an influx the size of the population of Thames. Many of the 600 jobs Apec creates will be for waiters, cooks and bar staff. Shona Greer, the manager of Hotel and Hospitality Employment Services, said her firm alone had filled 200 Apec-related positions.

Leftfield Sports Caf, Auckland's newest arrival to the waterfront bar and restaurant scene, has already been taking advantage of the Apec build-up with a steady stream of Apec organisers passing through the bar doors. But Leftfield's Ric Salizzo said it would be business as usual during Apec.

"If US President Bill Clinton pops down for a beer, we'll treat him very well," he said.

Retailers are also set to make money from the conference. Two days of shopping have been planned for the leaders' and ministers' spouses at the DFS Galleria shopping centre. Lingh Luong, events and promotion manager for Galleria, said the Apec guests would have to shop behind closed doors, as they were considered an "at-risk" group.

Other businesses are less enthusiastic about what Apec has to offer. David Stent, the owner of Goldline Limousines, said he had been expecting business from Apec but bookings had been slow.

Leaders will be transported around Auckland city in special cars brought over from Australia and driven by Army personnel.

Taxi companies are also finding that Apec may not deliver the level of business expected. Barbara Seddon, the sales and marketing manager for Corporate Cabs, said traffic problems would make business difficult. "With them shutting down the central city for two days it's hopeless. We haven't got the ability to get in there," she said.

Alex Swney, the chief executive of the Heart of the City campaign, is also concerned about the fate of businesses while the city is closed off to the public. "Extravagant endeavours by police to keep people away from town will affect things. There is no point turning the central business district into a moonscape with no people," he said.

Other parts of the country are sharing in the Apec windfall. In early August about 750 officials from 21 economies arrived in Rotorua for nine days of preliminary discussions, injecting an estimated $1.8 million into the Bay of Plenty economy.

One-quarter of the Apec visitors are also expected to spend an additional week in New Zealand. South Island Tourist operators hosting President Clinton on his post-Apec visit will be just some of those enjoying Apec's lucrative spin-offs.

*Greta Shirley and Peter Griffin are journalism students at the Auckland Institute of Technology