Planning now under way for Americarna 2023
Although Americarna was cancelled, many of the cars still came to the region for a few days and that’s good news for businesses in Taranaki, says Americarna event director John Rae.
He says he and the teams at Americarna NZ and Taranaki Vehicle Events Trust (TVET) are grateful to the many American vehicle owners who still travelled to Taranaki last week, despite the Covid-19-related cancellation of this year’s Americarna event.
“Clearly, the need to cancel Americarna 2022 meant many businesses missed the opportunity to benefit from the revenue the event would have brought into the region. At least with a number of people still visiting, it wasn’t a total loss as motels, cafes, bars and some retailers would have had some additional businesses from the visitors.”
It had been a hard call to cancel this year’s event, he says, but a decision he and the team stand by.
“Our decision to cancel Americarna 2022 was not made lightly . . . primarily the Omicron spread was, and still is, a very real concern [and] along with not being able to run the event as we typically do, it would have ended up being a disappointment to our entrants and the general public.”
Organisers are now gearing up to plan a memorable 2023 Americarna, he says, and people are already signing up to participate.
“We have over 700 cars who have elected to transfer their entry for Americarna 2022 over to the 2023 event. This is outstanding and we thank all those people who, incidentally, are double vaccinated — which was a requirement for 2022.
“We’re working on ideas to ensure 2023 is more than what the entrants and public have come to accept as normal. Let’s hope Covid is something we just live with shortly and that our borders are open for international visitors again, we know there are a number of Americarna supporters from the USA and Australia who want to be back in Taranaki.”