Lions series a roaring success for Christchurch
The rugby test series is over and the Lions and their supporters have left Christchurch with many wonderful memories and a content business community.
The inevitable debriefs have began as to how the city performed when it hosted the estimated 30,000 visitors in late June. Many of those who happily sang “we get three dollars, to the pound” in shops, restaurants and bars have indicated they will return.
The Canterbury Employers Chamber of Commerce gave out 10,000 brochures to visitors advertising Christchurch as place to come and live. Since then, it has had 3000 hits on its website.
“The supporters that I spoke to over the week said they all fell in love with Christchurch very quickly. That shows that what we in Christchurch have to offer is appealing,” says the Chamber’s Chief Executive, Peter Townsend.
While it is difficult to put an exact figure on the economic benefits, Mr Townsend says the boost to the Christchurch economy during the build-up to the first test was between 5 million and $10 million.
“Beneficiaries would certainly have been the pubs and restaurants, as well as selected retailers. Some retailers were not so happy but in reality they were never really the target market,” he says. “As an aside, the demeanour of the Lions’ fans and their fun-loving nature was a big lesson to New Zealanders on how to behave. It was so obvious that they were here purely to have a good time.
“I went to the test myself and the atmosphere was great. The concentration of red in the crowd was quite amazing,” Mr Townsend says.
The Christchurch Council was proactive in organising the highly successful Black Out Banner Competition. More than 8500 primary school children designed banners in support of the All Blacks.The Radio Network’s Classic Hits, and 91ZM received over 230,000 email and text votes.
Christchurch was also “blacked out” on Friday, 24 June, to show its support for the All Blacks.
Unfortunately for Christchurch, the only downside was that it had the worst weather for the entire series with hail, sleet and rain for the match itself. |
