Wednesday 13 March 2013

Provisional Attendance Figures For Ellerslie

The Christchurch City Council today released a provisional figure of 44,900 people who attended the Ellerslie International Flower Show this year – very close to the number that attended in 2012.

Marketing Unit Manager Richard Stokes said, “The Council is satisfied with this year’s crowd numbers, which were on target with expectations to match attendance numbers for last year.”

Forty-five thousand people visited the Show in 2012.

“We recognised attracting and accommodating visitors to Christchurch continues to be challenging and set our expectations this year accordingly.

The Council and event organisers are undertaking market research on the Show to see what people thought of it and look at how that feedback can be incorporated into planning for future events.

“We are constantly reviewing the content of the Show, which evolves every year. We will listen to feedback and look to provide the best possible Show in 2014,” Mr Stokes said.

Deputy Mayor Ngaire Button said Ellerslie was purchased by the Council in 2007 as part of its long-term events strategy and is here to stay.

“We wanted a significant international garden event for New Zealand to be based in Christchurch to help promote our status as the Garden City. The Show is part of a year-long events programme, which has 90 per cent satisfaction rate in the annual resident’s survey.

“The Council is committed to the Show and is continuing to work towards cementing its place as one of the top horticultural events in the Southern Hemisphere.”

Deputy Mayor Button said the Council had received a lot of positive feedback on the high calibre of the gardens from the public and great support from Show participants.

“The passion of exhibitors, retailers, sponsors and supporters of the Show was outstanding again this year and the Council thanks them for their enthusiasm and commitment.”

ENDS

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Gordon Campbell:
On Syria

Since the Arab Spring began, the rebellion in Syria has been the only one to evolve into full scale civil war, and still is the only conflict with the potential to shape the politics of the entire Middle East.

The future stability of Iran, Lebanon, Iraq and even Turkey is now resting on the outcome – and at the level of global politics, Russia and the US are currently headed for the negotiating table, to try and find a diplomatic solution to this holy (and unholy) mess.

A war that the Assad regime seemed to be on the brink of losing a few months ago, is now far more evenly balanced. More>>