Cancelled Auckland events cost millions
The cost of calling off conferences and events during Auckland’s snap lockdown will run to millions of dollars, and businesses say Government aid will be a drop in the bucket.
Uncertainty over how long the alert level 3 restrictions will apply are also causing major headaches for upcoming events, such as Auckland’s Home Show, which was due to start a five-day run next week after being delayed by the lockdown.
Cordis hotel general manager Franz Mascarenhas said the return to alert level 3 had cost close to $500,000 from cancellations of three events and
425 guest bookings.
‘‘We had a large residential conference that was taking
300-plus rooms for two nights. Our occupancy was going to be around 80 per cent and is now down to 8 per cent.’’
The EMEX high-tech machinery show was called off on Monday and XPO Exhibitions managing director Brent Spillane
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Auckland estimates he has lost at least
$500,000 from rescheduling that event and the BuildNZ trade show.
‘‘This is the seventeenth show rescheduled or cancelled over a
12-month period and those are extraordinary costs for us.’’
He said the two events historically attracted buyers with more than $900 million in purchasing power and generated 5600 visitor nights for Auckland.
‘‘The bigger picture is the tens of millions in GDP that is lost in trade from the show not running.’’
Total CNC sells computercontrolled machinery and managing director Roger Oxford said he had easily spent $60,000 preparing for the show, as well as investing more than $500,000 on importing gear for the event. ‘‘It’s a bitter pill that’s for sure.’’
Oxford is waiting to hear when he will be allowed into the Auckland showgrounds to retrieve four large machines weighing 22 tonnes, and said dismantling his stand would take a full day.
‘‘At the moment everyone is a bit concerned about what time frame we have to get the stuff out, and we can’t sell it in the meantime,’’ he said.
Ram3D manufactures metal parts, such as customised handlebar extensions for the New Zealand Olympic cycling team, and owner Barry Robinson is worried about missing out on vital face-toface contact with buyers. Previous shows had produced
$400,000 worth of sales.
‘‘The other option is for me to put [product] in my case and go knocking on doors, but you can’t do that in the current environment, and it’s a slow painful and expensive way to find customers, that’s why trade shows are so valuable to us.’’