Event Boost Fund A Good First Step But Secure Funding Needed

Museums and galleries play a vital role in attracting and welcoming international tourists but need lead time to deliver real economic impact, says Museums Aotearoa CEO Sarah Maguire.

Her comments follow Tourism Minister Louise Upston’s just-announced Major Events and Tourism Package which includes the contestable Events Boost Fund.

The contestable fund opens today and closes on 30 September 2025.

“The two-week timeframe for applications will be an impossible ask for many of our members who face considerable staffing constraints, and in some regions are fully serviced by volunteers.”

“We applaud the Minister for recognising that seed funding is vital, but urge the Government to look to long-term, stable funding for the sector.

“For our largest museums and galleries, a touring exhibition or event would have a 2–3-year lead time. This funding is so important on paper, but practically impossible for my members to grasp in the real world.

“Despite delivering considerable tourism value, museums and galleries are largely ratepayer funded. What this new fund does well is realise investment opportunities that our Local Government partners might not have been able to justify alone. It demonstrates Central Government understands the essential role museums and galleries have in attracting international visitors.

“We just ask that Minister Upston takes this one step further and considers the value that could be realised from a ring-fenced revenue source like the International Visitor Levy (IVL) if an annual allocation was set aside for museums and galleries,” Sarah Maguire says.

The total assets for museums and galleries were valued at $5.6 billion in 2021, including $3.6 billion in collections across 45 million items and $2bn in buildings.

“Any private business with an asset base this size would be able to deliver considerable return on investment. But public museums and galleries exist to deliver public good.

“There is a road through, and it is investing in the return museums and galleries deliver across tourism and education. These are the territories of central government and the taxpayer.

“Market forces, or more accurately, market failure, exists for the museum and gallery sector and without long-term, secure funding, our value will never be fully realised,” Sarah Maguire says.

Background

Museums Aotearoa has long advocated that a share of the International Visitor Levy (IVL) recognise the considerable contribution museums and galleries make to tourism.

There were an estimated 3.9 million visits to museums and galleries from approximately 1.4 million unique international visitors in 2018. This means around 35% of international visitors visited a museum or gallery during their time in New Zealand, averaging four visits to such institutions during their trip. 

Museums and galleries provide an important economic role employing some 3,365 full-time equivalent jobs and engaging more than 11,000 volunteers around the country. Collectively, museums and galleries generate a conservative estimate of $272million in GDP – much of it in regional New Zealand.

Source: BERL: The value of museums and galleries in Aotearoa New Zealand 2022

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