Dunedin and Otago
The economic impact that would be generated by events, through the spending of visitors, locals, event organisers and media, has been estimated between 24 to 56 million dollars. The higher estimate includes the impact of Otago/Southland people staying at home to attend events, made possible by the stadium, that they would otherwise have had to travel out of the city to attend.
The total economic impact for the region of hosting an international rugby test is estimated at $5.3million. This is based on the results of an economic impact study of the Tri-Nations Test between South Africa and New Zealand in 2003 undertaken by Berl. The benefits to the city and region were:
- Approximately 10,000 extra visitors to the region with an average spend of $302 with the majority of that spent on accommodation, food and beverage.
- A total spend of $3 million with 16% of that outside Dunedin.
- The direct valued added to the region was 1.3 million
- Direct employment as a result of hosting the test was the equivalent of 40 full-time jobs over a one-year period.
- The construction of the stadium will generate about 600 new jobs. Money raised in the region stays in the region.
- When it opens it will need bar staff, waiters, chefs, cleaner, security and hospitality hosts to name but a few.
University of Otago
The economic benefit to the region from the University has been estimated to be in excess of $30million per year. The University based this on either retaining 500 students or attracting an extra 500. They assess that the economic impact of one student as around $63,000 per year, due to the multiplier effect (i.e., a student pays rent of $80, the landlord buys something in a shop, the shopkeeper buys more products from the wholesaler, etc).
Investment
The stadium will lead a change of land use and is predicted to kick start significant investment in North Dunedin in exactly the same way as the Telstra Dome has in a once forgotten docklands area of Melbourne. A decaying and dead area is now the chic new centre for hotels, apartments, restaurants, water developments and tourism.
Melbourne has laid a tram circuit that includes the stadium, and exactly the same could happen in the new Dunedin quadrant. It could move students between lectures by day, restaurant diners by night and rugby crowds on the weekends.
New large scale conferences, exhibitions and trade shows that presently don’t come this far south because the facilities don’t exist have the potential to spark and justify investment in new hotels and a more frequent air service.
Increased Media Exposure
The facility can host massive events that are of national and international media interest.
What price can be put on this media exposure? Dunedin and its people, on the radar, beamed into millions and sometimes hundreds of millions of living rooms, clubs and pubs throughout New Zealand and around the world. It will:
- Capture the imagination of secondary school pupils thinking about a choice of university
- Project a vibrant city to people looking for a change in lifestyle
- Present an economically robust city to attract new businesses and to stop businesses drifting north
- Enshrine Dunedin as an ideal tourist destination.
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