Hawke's Bay gears up for World Cup party

In just four months, the world's third biggest sporting event arrives in the Bay. Heather McCracken asks whether we're doing enough to make sure Hawke's Bay's Rugby World Cup party goes off with a bang.
It already looks like a sellout.
It'll cost us more than $750,000.
And it should be the biggest rugby party Hawke's Bay has ever seen.
So four months out, where's the hype around the Rugby World Cup? Where's our "party central"?
When does the excitement kick off?
The build-up may seem muted so far, but there's plenty going on, says regional co-ordinator Peter Mooney.
He's been on the job for two years, working on events, volunteers, VIPs, arrangements for teams, and doing it all according to the exacting demands of Rugby New Zealand 2011 and the International Rugby Board.
He's also pulling together dozens of events that make up the Hawke's Bay festival, Having A Ball.
Some existing events have been shoehorned into the programme, including the Blossom Festival, the Olive Festival, the Spring Carnival and Cycling Tour of the Bay.
New initiatives include Central Hawke's Bay's Lamb Festival and rugby-themed art exhibitions.
Fanzones, where semis and finals will show on big screens, will be held in Napier, Hastings, Wairoa and Waipukurau, with Wairoa's featuring other games as well.
They'll be held indoors, in cinemas and theatres, because outdoor events are more expensive and late kick-off times made outdoor viewing problematic.
Hawke's Bay won't have a "party central," but there'll be an Art Deco party at the Sound Shell on local game days, and Napier will be divided into quarters celebrating the three visiting teams, Canada, France and Japan, and the All Blacks.
It's expected that while the teams are here - Canada for 15 nights, Japan for six and France for three - they'll take part in civic events, school visits and open training sessions, but that's still to be confirmed.
But Hawke's Bay won't be involved in a country-wide Wine Festival organised by New Zealand Wine Growers, as the local branch felt it wasn't the best use of the organisation's resources.
Together, the region's councils are spending about $750,000 on hosting the tournament, not including the McLean Park upgrade.
Napier City Council's cost for providing the ground is about $300,000, although chief executive Neil Taylor says it's hard to pin down, as requirements keep changing.
The Hawke's Bay Regional Council is putting up $400,000, including money already spent on bidding to host games.
Some events have also been funded through the government's $9 million fund for the Real NZ festival, including Central Hawke's Bay's lamb festival.
A lot of the events are still to be confirmed - just this week, plans for a giant grass-covered rugby ball on Marine Parade were scrapped - and so far, promotion has been low-key.
Mr Mooney says advertising to an international audience is expensive and, besides, Hawke's Bay is already promoting itself.
And RNZ 2011 and Tourism New Zealand were already promoting the country as a whole.
"We've got a tourism organisation, we don't need to replicate that, it's already happening," he said.
"We want to give those visitors an experience to take home and they'll sell our region for us."
Are we doing enough? "There's never enough, but it's what we can afford to do," Mr Mooney says.
THE good news is McLean's Park's games look like being a sellout.
The last round of tickets will go on sale in early July once seats allocated for sponsors, tour packages are finalised and the leftovers go on the market, but both RNZ 2011 and local organisers expect every seat to be full.
Just over half of ticket holders so far are from within the region, with about 30 per cent are coming from overseas.
No one's quite sure what the benefit to the region will be from all those visitors - one early estimate was that the two matches alone would bring between $8.5 million and $9 million.
But it's hard to know how many other rugby tourists will come to the region between games.
"Our best estimation is that Hawke's Bay should be about as full as an Art Deco Weekend or Mission Concert weekend around the two matches," Mr Mooney says.
Local moteliers say it doesn't look that good yet.
Tim Stephens, Napier Motel Association president and owner of Ballina Motel in Taradale, is surprised at the lack of bookings and inquiries so far.
Bookings are in from the three teams, Rugby World Cup officials and media, but "outside that, there's bugger all", Mr Stephens says.
"From our perspective, we're clearly disappointed with the volume that's come through at the moment."
He understands a large group of Canadian fans are staying in Rotorua and busing to the games, and there are concerns the Japanese earthquake and tsunami would affect the number of Japanese travellers.
He thinks Hawke's Bay is missing a major drawcard event. "We're disappointed that we just don't seem to have any anchor events and we're not hearing anything about what's planned."
Hawke's Bay Chamber of Commerce chief executive Murray Douglas says the tournament will bring a "modest" economic boost.
"There'll be a modest lift on the main two or three days, and there'll be a little trickle through of people moving around the country," he says.
"We are on the edge of the tournament, we're not in the middle."
But he says there's potential for businesses to make contacts through a scheme matching up overseas business people with local counterparts, and a Hawke's Bay cocktail party may be held in Auckland.
"We'll also get a positive boost," Mr Douglas says. "We'll go into 2012 feeling a bit confident about ourselves and that's what's good about it."
NAPIER Mayor Barbara Arnott is optimistic too.
Hundreds have signed up to be volunteers during the tournament and their enthusiasm will infect the rest of the community, she says.
"People want to celebrate what's happening on the field with other people.
"If you're not at the game, you want the idea of an event and coming together with other people."
Groups of French, Japanese and Canadian supporters already in the Bay would get behind the city's designated country "quarters", and back the visiting teams.
"We've got natural affinity with all those places and I think people will want to come together."
And Mr Mooney says he's confident the event is big enough that the buzz will take care of itself. It will grow to be huge by tournament time, he says.
"I've got no worries about the tournament itself once it gets here.
Knowing what I do about the planning that's going into it, and knowing what I do about sporting events of this size, New Zealand will be fizzing."