Okay, who watched the Royal Wedding? I confess to being a fully paid-up member of the Fairytale Believers' Club and watched with tears trickling down my face.
My mum was thrilled with the whole affair. With so much doom and gloom in the world, she said, it was nice at last
to have something to celebrate.
There were, of course, the inevitable detractors, declaring the whole thing a waste of British taxpayers' money. Everyone's entitled to their opinion, but some forget the benefits events like this can bring to a city.
According to respected British broadsheet The Guardian, the Royal Wedding cost British taxpayers £10 million ($20.5 million). In contrast, total tourism revenue could be as much as £2 billion - not just from visitors there on the day, but also from the 2 billion people who watched it on television who may later decide they'd like to visit London themselves.
I'm not getting into the debate about what it cost the United Kingdom's economy declaring the day a national holiday - that's a different discussion!
Beneficiaries of this boost to the struggling UK economy are not just the obvious hotels, restaurants and tourist attractions. There are shops selling memorabilia, supermarkets supplying food and drink for street parties, fashion shops selling 'copyKate' apparel - even Farmers in Rotorua got in on the act with a replica wedding dress on display the day after the wedding.
Events are great opportunities for tourism outlets, but can also swell the coffers of whole communities. This is something Rotorua already takes advantage of - you may have heard February's Ragamuffin brought in an astounding $9.3 million in visitor spend.
Destination Rotorua Tourism Marketing works with organisers to help promote key events.
We are also going a step further by identifying opportunities that play to Rotorua's core and iconic tourism propositions - for example, mountain biking events that tie in with our reputation as a top cycling destination.
Events that also benefit the city, but which are perhaps not quite so apparent, are conference and incentive events. This includes exhibitions, team-building days and staff incentive activities.
For the year ending March, Rotorua hosted 281 multi-day conferences, with a total 31,670 delegates collectively staying 93,502 days in the region. They spent a total of $40 million. Again, this is great business for the city.
Destination Rotorua Tourism Marketing has a small team, the Rotorua Convention Bureau, dedicated to encouraging conference and incentive events to Rotorua. It's a totally independent service, not tied to any venues or facilities and it is free.
The team is currently busy organising Meetings, New Zealand's premier business tourism expo. This two-day event in June is expected to attract 500 domestic and international guests. As it's aimed at people in the C&I business, it's also a fantastic opportunity to showcase our region to those who could bring even more events to Rotorua.
We may not have a Royal Wedding, but our success with events should bring tears of joy to our city.
- Jane Hope is the media adviser for Destination Rotorua Tourism Marketing
