A new $50 million central government Regional Events Fund has been launched to stimulate domestic tourism and travel between regions in the absence of international visitors due to COVID-19.
The coastal Bay of Plenty (Tauranga, Western Bay and Whakatane) has a $500,000 share of this fund, which will be administered by Tourism Bay of Plenty. Key information includes:
- Applications are open from Monday 28 June until Friday 16 July 2021.
- The fund is contestable and is for events that will attract significant inter and intra-regional visitation.
- Applicants must fill out an online expression of interest form as a first step.
- Applicants must have proven operational event management and content experience.
- Events can be recurring or one-off across a broad range of genres, including arts, culture, music, business or sports.
- Existing events must demonstrate how they will stimulate additional visitation from previous events.
- Applicants can apply for a maximum of $40,000 + GST for a one-off grant and $80,000 + GST for a seed funding grant (for a maximum of three years).
- Successful applicants will need to undertake event measurement and an economic impact assessment of the event in line with MBIE reporting requirements.
Guidelines and the EOI form can be found at Tourism Bay of Plenty’s website. For further information, contact Kirsty Davis at Tourism Bay of Bay of Plenty on cbopref@bayofplentynz.com.
