Challenge Wanaka a moneyspinner

Thechal high-profile Challenge Wanaka Triathlon Festival held in January is estimated to have injected around $2.7 million into the lakeside town, a survey has found.

The Challenge Wanaka Sports Trust yesterday released the findings of a survey of athletes and spectators that covered length of stay, spending habits and satisfaction levels.

With 79 per cent of athletes and 83 per cent of spectators surveyed coming from outside the Southern Lakes region, the food, drink and accommodation sectors received the biggest injection.

The January event attracted more than 1000 athletes – 25 per cent of them from overseas – who each brought an average 4.6 people with them. The event attracted about 6000 spectators.

Benefits were not limited to the week of the event, with more than 40 per cent of athletes visiting Wanaka during the year before the event to train, staying an average of 5.5 days. Pre-event training benefits were not even included in the economic benefit figure.

Challenge Wanaka race director Victoria Murray-Orr said organisers were delighted with the results.

In addition to the more than 1000 happy athletes heading away to spread great "word of mouth" promotion for Wanaka, the event also received extensive international media coverage in Europe, Britain, the United States and Australia, which all contributed to the tourism dollar, she said.

The event is part of the global Challenge Series, which has eight events in Germany, France, Denmark, Spain and Austria as well as New Zealand.

The next Challenge festival will run from January 9 to 15 next year.

Lake Wanaka Tourism general manager James Helmore said events such as the Challenge were "absolutely vital" for Wanaka's tourism success.

With 24 nationalities represented, the global media exposure was huge.

Wanaka was being actively promoted as a "swim, bike, run" sports event destination.

"If we had to define Wanaka, it fits our brand perfectly," he said.

Triathlon New Zealand had just held a two-week high-altitude training camp at the Snow Farm, near Wanaka, which attracted some big names.

While the Motatapu Icebreaker event, held this month, was also beneficial, it was hard to measure its economic benefit, with the Wanaka A&P Show, the second-largest in the South Island, being held on the same weekend.

However, the Warbirds Over Wanaka air show was still the biggest event by far, attracting more than 80,000 and injecting $50 million into the local economy.

- © Fairfax NZ News

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