Editorial: Demand to increase for Northland festivals

Craig Cooper.

Musician Billy TK Jr has many strings to his bow.

Some readers may recognise Billy Te Kahika (Billy TK Jr) as a talented guitarist. But he has also been singing the praises of Northland as a festival and event venue, and is gaining some high-powered support along the way.

Mr Te Kahika wants to bring a world indigenous sports festival to Northland, with a vision to grow it into a World Indigenous Festival attracting 120 participating countries and 6000 visitors. The proposal has secured support from regional development agencies like Northland Inc, as well as UN Development programme head and former New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark.

An indigenous festival in Northland makes sense, given our place in New Zealand's cultural and political history, which gives us an international profile.

The festival is planned for 2019, by which time Northland's tourism market will be eager for something along these lines to complement our natural tourism infrastructure.

According to statistics that emanate from Westpac, New Zealand has seen a sharp rise in tourists since 2013. In the past year alone, three million overseas visitors have come to New Zealand.

If you thought there were plenty of tourists around in 2011, brace yourself for the next few years. Because, in 2011, visitors spent 32 million guest nights in New Zealand.

A guest night equals one guest spending one night at an establishment. Statistics New Zealand offers this definition - a motel with 15 guests spending two nights would report provision of 30 guest nights of accommodation.

And since 2011, nationally we are now seeing just over 37 million guest nights.

Which means that, by 2019, Northland will need events like the one proposed by Mr Te Kahika, because not all those tourists are going to fit on a dolphin-watching boat.

A bit like the parking challenges presented by the Town Basin Hundertwasser project, what a wonderful problem to have.