Wellington Weekend: ‘We are the envy of the world’

Wellington should be the envy of the world this weekend, with a schedule of sporting and cultural events that few, if any, cities in the Covid-19 plagued world can rival.

Some 30,000 people will flock to Sky Stadium on Sunday for the opening game of the Bledisloe Cup, an event that All Blacks coach Ian Foster said was going to be “special.”

“It’s hard to explain what it feels like for players to play at home, play in front of their fans and play against a Wallaby team that we have great respect for,” he said yesterday.

The fact that Wellington can host the Bledisloe Cup match should make the capital the “envy of the world,” said Shane Harmon, CEO of Sky Stadium.

As of Friday night, there were still 5,000 tickets available to fill the 34,500-capacity venue.

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Further up the boardwalk, kiwi pop sensation Benee will hold his third sold-out concert at Shed 6 on Saturday night, while the Van Gogh Alive exhibition, which features art projected onto three-story high shipping containers , it will be refilled to the maximum

Foodies, meanwhile, have plenty of options, from Visa Wellington on a Plate, New Zealand’s largest food and drink festival, which raised more than $ 30 million last year, to the wine tasting event. Winetopia.

“This is the biggest weekend event Wellington has had since Covid-19,” said Warrick Dent, general manager of WellingtonNZ, the capital’s tourism promotion agency. “All of that is bringing people to the CBD, which is great for local businesses and our hotel sector.”

While the economy in the capital is still feeling the effects of the Covid-19 shutdowns, the surge in events is good news for Wellington businesses, he said.

“A test of the All Blacks injects millions of dollars into the local economy, especially the hospitality and retail sectors, which have suffered damage from the pandemic,” said Dent.

However, there is still a long way to go until Wellington returns to normal. Harmon warned that it would take at least another year before the events industry, which he described as “the last taxi out of line,” picks up.

By Friday night there were about 5,000 tickets left for the Bledisloe Cup match. But the stadium only had 12 days to sell tickets, compared to the usual four months or so.

Still, the event extravaganza this weekend, coinciding with the school holidays, has led to a sharp increase in arrivals in the capital. Wellington Airport expected more than 16,000 passengers to pass through on Friday, double the daily average for September.

“The school holidays were a real driver, you just have to walk down the street to see that,” said Chris Wilkinson, managing director of First Retail Group, an industry-focused consultancy.

At Hurricane Denim on Willis Street, co-founder David Byrne said things were looking up.

“There has definitely been an increase in the last few weeks and it’s exciting to see,” he said. “People realize that to have a vibrant city and a cultural capital, it is important to spend locally and where it matters.”