News Release Friday 4 March, 2011

Football Capital Ready to Put Its Best Foot Forward
2015 FIFA Men’s Under 20 World Cup Major News for Wellington

Today’s announcement of New Zealand as the host country for the 2015 FIFA Men’s Under 20 World Cup is fantastic news – and Wellington will be aiming to play a central role in the tournament, says Mayor Celia Wade-Brown.

“Wellington has earned its right to expect to play a major role in the 2015 FIFA Men’s Under 20 World Cup. We have proven through our support of both the Wellington Phoenix and the All Whites that our city is without question the football capital of New Zealand,” says Mayor Wade-Brown.

“The Westpac Stadium has been the scene of many memorable football moments in the past few years – and we expect the stadium to host some of the biggest matches of this huge tournament.”

Today’s announcement is major news for Wellington’s tourism industry, says Positively Wellington Tourism Chief Executive David Perks.

“We’re talking about FIFA’s second largest tournament; in terms of visitor numbers and economic impact, this will be simply massive – there will be 24 nations involved and a global television audience of about half a billion,” Mr Perks says.

The capital can expect to score plenty of game time during the New Zealand leg, Mr Perks says.

The expected cash injection would depend on the scheduling of the 52 match tournament, but the benefit to Wellington would easily be well into the millions, Mr Perks says.

The news comes off the back of Wellington recently securing the rights to host the NZI Sevens tournament through until 2016.

“The addition of the FIFA Men’s Under 20 World Cup onto the programme gives us yet another opportunity to cement Wellington as New Zealand’s events capital, showcase the ‘coolest little capital’ to the world and prove you don’t have to be the biggest to be the loudest.”

NOTES TO EDITORS
Positively Wellington Tourism (PWT)
PWT is the regional tourism organisation for Wellington. It is a council-controlled organisation primarily funded by Wellington City Council through the Downtown Levy, a targeted rate paid by commercial ratepayers in downtown Wellington.
Wellington Tourism statistics
• Visitors spend $1.4 billion in the Wellington region annually, an average of $3.8 million per day. Nice one.
• Visitor expenditure in Wellington accounts for about 10% of Wellington’s regional domestic product.
Wellington city hosts around 8 million visitor nights per year.

ENDS

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