Tourism New Zealand says the announcement of venues for the
Rugby World Cup in 2011 is good news for tourism in New
Zealand.
Thirteen venues were chosen for games, with a geographical
spread from Invercargill to Whangarei. This reflects the Rugby
Union's 'New Zealand is a Stadium of Four Million' approach,
encouraging all New Zealanders to support the event. All venues
will host at least two games.
"We are delighted that the Rugby World Cup game draw shows such
great regional spread," says George Hickton, Tourism New Zealand
Chief Executive.
"We are expecting tens of thousands of visitors for the event.
This draw means that the benefits of those visitors will be shared
by a large part of New Zealand."
"Tourism New Zealand will be working hard to encourage visitors to
see as much of the country as possible. We already have our 'Front Row Rugby Club' that enables us to
target rugby fans around the world and feed them information on the
Cup and New Zealand's tourism activities. By this we are aiming to
convert a love of rugby and an interest in New Zealand into a trip
here for the 2011 Rugby World Cup."
"Our giant rugby ball venue has also
already been used twice in an international setting. Now that the
games have been announced, there is an opportunity for the regions
to be involved in profiling themselves in this unique venue."
"Once we've convinced the fans to come, we are working on them
to come early, stay longer, and do more in our country while they
are here."
He adds that there is still also the opportunity to get players,
management and supporters out to other regions that have missed out
on games.
"Many of those that come over to New Zealand will travel further
afield than the locations of the games," he says.
"They'll be here to take a look around, and in-between games
will likely visit regions that don't actually have scheduled
games."
The IRB Rugby World Cup is the third-largest sports event in the
world. The inaugural tournament took place in 1987 and it is held
every four years. The 2011 tournament will take place in New
Zealand from 9 September to 23 October 2011.
Read more about the
2011 Rugby World Cup
www.rugbyworldcup.com
For further information:
Cas Carter, Corporate Communications Tourism New Zealand, Mob 021
915 410