{"id":21112,"date":"2025-09-14T02:21:10","date_gmt":"2025-09-14T02:21:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/21112\/"},"modified":"2025-09-14T02:21:10","modified_gmt":"2025-09-14T02:21:10","slug":"govt-unveils-70m-fund-to-lure-global-acts-support-major-events","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/21112\/","title":{"rendered":"Govt unveils $70m fund to lure global acts, support major events"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Government has announced a $70 million investment package aimed at supercharging New Zealand\u2019s events and tourism sectors, introducing new money to attract global acts, support existing events, and drive regional visitor growth.<\/p>\n

The package, a combination of new money and existing funding, included a $40 million Events Attraction Fund to secure large-scale international events from 2026; a $10 million Events Boost Fund to support existing events and attract global opportunities; a $10 million Regional Tourism Boost Campaign to draw international visitors; and up to $10 million for tourism infrastructure upgrades.<\/p>\n

Major artists including Taylor Swift<\/a>, Lady Gaga, Olivia Rodrigo and Billie Eilish have all skipped New Zealand on recent tours, opting instead for multi-city stadium runs across Australia.<\/p>\n

Tourism and Hospitality Minister Louise Upston said the package would drive economic activity and confidence across New Zealand.<\/p>\n

“Major events, whether they are sports showdowns, the world\u2019s most popular artists or well-loved favourites, can be a bonanza for the cities and regions which host them, supporting local jobs and incomes in the hospitality and retail sectors and beyond.”<\/p>\n

She said the level of investment represented a “significant funding boost” and put New Zealand on par with the Australian state of Queensland.<\/p>\n

“The investment will allow New Zealand to compete with Australia to host big acts and will give international visitors even more reasons to come and explore New Zealand, while also encouraging Kiwis to get out and about.”<\/p>\n

The funding was part of the Coalition Government\u2019s Q3 Action Plan and aimed to deliver events beginning in 2026, with some funding spread over two years to allow contractual flexibility.<\/p>\n

Upston cited Auckland’s recent success in hosting 14 major concerts over the past three years, including Coldplay and Pearl Jam, which generated $33.7m for the local economy.<\/p>\n

Tourism was the country’s second-largest export earner, contributing around $17 billion to GDP and supporting close to 200,000 jobs.<\/p>\n

Further announcements on events and infrastructure projects were expected by the end of 2025, with the full package rolled out over the next two years.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Government has announced a $70 million investment package aimed at supercharging New Zealand\u2019s events and tourism sectors,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":21113,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[138,111,43,139,69,135,10097],"class_list":{"0":"post-21112","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-zealand","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-new-zealand","10":"tag-news","11":"tag-newzealand","12":"tag-nz","13":"tag-politics","14":"tag-tourism"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21112","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21112"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21112\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21113"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21112"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21112"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21112"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}