Has City of Sails run out of puff?

An Auckland business leader wants a change to the city's "City of Sails" moniker, one of New Zealand's most recognisable slogans.

Chamber of Commerce chief executive Michael Barnett said the term - which is about 25 years old - "no longer reflects the region or its people".

Instead, he said the region needed "a consistent and compelling regional brand identity that can be used for tourism bodies, local and regional councils, economic development agencies, business and education institutes".

But the Weekend Herald could not find any great groundswell of support for change.

Tourism Auckland chief executive Graeme Osborne said he was unaware of any significant debate about the term, which appears on the organisation's website and letterheads.

Former Auckland Mayor John Banks said he hadn't spent much time thinking about an alternative name.

"But I do think you would be hard pushed to find something better than 'The City of Sails' and I would be appalled if some kind of politically correct name was promoted," he said.

Manukau City Mayor Sir Barry Curtis was a little more receptive to a slogan change. He said he had always thought of Auckland as the "City of Mortgagee Sales" instead of the well-worn "City of Sails".

"The term is inappropriate and I think we can do a heck of a lot better."

But Mr Barnett's greatest challenge could come in killing off the old slogan: internet search engine Google records 241,000 mentions of "Auckland - City of Sails".

Rod Dalton of Team New Zealand is more concerned about bringing the America's Cup back. "I've never really thought about it but how about 'Auckland: Home of New Zealand's America's Cup'."

Former All Black and now celebrity PR person Andy Hayden said there was a "reasonable chance" Mr Barnett was right about promoting a name change.

But he also said: "Auckland has far bigger challenges and much greater opportunities than spending too much mind time on this."