Visitors spent almost $14 million in Christchurch during the two-day Hagley Park festival. Photo / Supplied
Attendees at Christchurch’s sold-out Electric Avenue festival spent almost $14 million this year, according to a newly released economic impact report.
The event, held in February in Hagley Park, featured New Zealand-exclusive acts like Kesha and Dom Dolla, as well as the debut of a reunited Split Enz.
The FreshInfo-led report showed this year’s $14m boost passed the $10.5m spent in the city by Electric Avenue festival-goers in 2025, when the event first expanded to two days.
A total of 45,000 tickets were sold for each day, with about another 2000 workers, artists and crew on-site, marking a 13% increase on the 2025 event, where 39,000 tickets were sold each day.
Ninety-five per cent of resident event attendees said in the report that hosting events like Electric Avenue makes Christchurch a more enjoyable city to live in.
However, Electric Avenue is not only Christchurch’s favourite party, but it’s also beloved across the country and beyond.
Fifty-six per cent of event attendees came from outside Christchurch, with attendance from Australia and the UK growing.
The festival’s economic benefits were also beneficial to accommodation providers, with the city at 98% occupancy from Thursday through to Saturday.
Electric Avenue generated 79,990 visitor nights with an average stay of 2.98 nights.
In February, Christchurch’s hotel occupancy rate was 96.4%, the highest reported February from the last decade and well above the national average for February 2026 of 88.9%.
Team Event managing director Callam Mitchell said Electric Avenue 2026 was built on the success of the expansion to a two-day festival and took it to another level.
“The expanded footprint, new stages, improved site flow and amenities, focused heavily on the overall guest experience,” Mitchell said.
With its status as the biggest in Australasia for the second year in a row, Electric Avenue now sits comfortably alongside the world’s great urban destination festivals.
Mitchell said this was reflected in the 32,000 tickets already sold for 2027, without a single artist yet to be announced.
The FreshInfo report outlined that 95% of event attendees said they were satisfied or very satisfied with their event experience.
Christchurch Mayor Phil Mauger said the city is cementing its place as New Zealand’s events capital.
“Christchurch is firing on all cylinders. Visitors from far and wide are here in force, spending in our city and experiencing everything we have to offer,” Mauger said.
“We’re delivering superbly, and we’re just getting started.”
Producing the two-day event involves a two-week pack-in, 2500 employees, six kilometres of fencing and 700 toilets.
Festival-goers partied to more than 60 acts across six stages on the new, extended site, featuring the new Electric stage and the expanded Cosmic Palace.
ChristchurchNZ head of major events Karena Finnie said it was exciting to see the city’s homegrown festival set new records and she looked forward to its continued development and improvement.
“Now firmly the largest festival in Australasia, Electric Avenue brings so much more than big acts to Ōtautahi.
“It brings a buzz and excitement to the streets, shows off our incredible, vibrant city to visitors from around the world and gives us an opportunity to show young adults and students why Christchurch is such a liveable destination.
“Electric Avenue is firmly a summer staple now, and this city is made for it,” Finnie said.
It comes as Christchurch’s One New Zealand Stadium is already set to pump $50m into the city’s economy in its first year.
Food vendors at the stadium received a record-breaking payday of more than $700,000 from the venue’s opening week.
The $683m venue features some of Christchurch’s favourite food outlets, including Bacon Brothers, Black Burger, Pedro’s, Smokey T’s, Sheffield Pie Shop and Fush, operating across 32 food and beverage stands.
Construction on the stadium began in April 2022, making it the largest project undertaken by Christchurch City Council.