Allison Lawton: Rotorua welcomes Lions and Maori All Blacks

Rotorua welcomes the British and Irish Lions and the Maori All Blacks. Photo/File

Nau mai, haere mai, and welcome to all the British and Irish NZ Lions players, management and their fantastic supporters to our beautiful city. We hope you enjoy our city, our manaakitanga (hospitality), and get to share in the wonderful experiences Rotorua offers.

We also extend a heartfelt welcome to our Maori All Blacks team, players, management and supporters. It is a privilege to host you in our city, and we extend our manaaki to you.

From a business perspective, we know tourism is the biggest economic driver for our city. It is heartening to see us taking full advantage of this platform to bring focus on Rotorua, to attract potential investors, businesses, and families to live, play, stay and share our wonderful lifestyle.

When we consider the economic benefits the DHL NZ Lions series which generate an estimated $250 million, New Zealand and our fair city are winners.

The research commissioned by the New Zealand Rugby Union notes the impact will be felt far and wide with 8000 people travelling on official tours, plus an estimated additional 8000 people travelling independently.

All these people are helping to grow our city as they will be spending their money on accommodation, attractions, restaurants, bars, and shops.

As well as the Lions supporters, we will also be hosting many domestic visitors, with a sell-out crowd of 28,500 for the Maori All Black vs British & Irish Lions game on Saturday. To build energy and focus, the city has developed two significant and relevant events to complement this momentous occasion:

The giant haka, which is attempting to break the Guinness World Record for the largest haka; and the Tima Tangata Maori All Black exhibition, showcasing the rich and proud history of Maori rugby. Well done to everyone involved in bringing these two events to the city. Rotorua, let's show our appreciation by supporting these events!

And, when the tour is over, and our international visitors have returned home to their large credit card bills, the greatest impact will be their experiences they have had with us. "Us" as people, our wonderful sense of humour, our friendliness, our uniqueness which is grounded in our Maori culture, and the fact we live in a fantastic city and country.

As world citizens, we do not understand the huge value international visitors place on "us just being us." Surprisingly, there is a significant financial and economic return for this - let's stand proud and continue to "be us".

Allison Lawton is the chief executive for the Rotorua Chamber of Commerce.