(Dunedin, 9 June 2021) The first round of the Dunedin Regional Events Fund has awarded $110,000 to two local events that are likely to attract more visitors into the city.

The Dunedin City Council Grants Subcommittee allocated the funding following a meeting in April.

Applications were evaluated against rigorous criteria set out by Enterprise Dunedin in its capacity as the DCC’s economic development and destination marketing agency, and the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE), who provided the funding as part of a suite of national visitor industry recovery initiatives.

The primary goal of the funding is to bolster new or existing regional events that have the capacity to increase domestic visitor spending and offset the loss of international visitor dollars. Additional measures around sustainability and net zero carbon goals were also considered essential considerations.

Recipients to secure funding in the first round were:

The New Zealand International Science Festival, who received $75,000 to upscale the national marketing of its substantial family-friendly programme of events.

New Zealand Masters Games received $35,000 to employ a marketing assistant to promote the bi-annual Dunedin rotation of the event.

Subcommittee Chairperson and Deputy Mayor Cr Christine Garey says, “The Regional Events Funding will enable these excellent Dunedin events to broaden their appeal and reach, to attract more New Zealanders into the city.

“This is another step towards a wider visitor sector recovery, as we know people travelling for events also contribute to the local economy by spending on hospitality, accommodation, retail, transport and activities.”

The second Regional Events Fund round will open on 4 October 2021. Event organisers interested in applying for the funding are encouraged to get in touch with Tammy Jackman in the DCC community and events team ahead of preparing an application.

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