Northland’s hospitality coffers received a giant boost from the Women’s Rugby World Cup matches played in Whangārei as thousands of visitors spent nearly $3 million.

A post-event evaluation report by the Whangārei District Council stated
10,866 visitors came to the region specifically to watch the games and each spent an average of $256 for a grand total of $2.7m gross. The net benefit to Northland was $1m.

However, the estimated net loss to New Zealand from hosting the global event was $226,804.

Just over 42,000 people attended the 11 matches played over four weekends at the Northland Events Centre (NEC) in Whangārei.

Te Rarawa women’s rugby co-coach and former Black Fern Te Kura Ngata-Aerengamate said the World Cup definitely inspired a new generation of girls coming through in Northland to take up rugby.

Since 2018, she said, Te Rarawa have had to fend for themselves with the support of past and present Black Ferns and hoped rugby unions would come on board to support women’s grassroots rugby.

“When you see one Black Fern, like Krystal Murray – one of your own on the world stage – it makes you have a sense of pride and wanting to have a go at the game. It would be interesting to see what support women’s rugby gets going forward,” she said.

Whangārei mayor Vince Cocurullo it was not just the financial returns but the lasting impression on the visitors of the city, and Northland as a whole as a tourism destination.

“The girls played amazing rugby and the tournament unearthed some really good rugby talent. The weather was great and all the teams and their fans had a great time,” he said.

As one of the hundreds of volunteers at the NEC and across town, Cocurullo helped load and unload teams’ luggage and said he heard first-hand how much everyone enjoyed themselves.

“The Rugby World Cup games in 2011 and the Fifa Under-20 World Cup matches we hosted enabled us to put in place measures to attract other international events, because we are at a level now where these things can happen,” he said.

“Business-wise, retailers in town were absolutely stoked. Every business went out of their way to provide for the teams and fans that came in and they will always remember that. I just want everyone to understand that the investment we’ve made for the Women’s Rugby World Cup games has made the district proud.”

Teams visiting historic places outside Whangārei such as the Treaty of Waitangi grounds, Waipoua Forest and places in the Far North ensured the benefits of the tournament were as widely spread across the region as possible, the mayor said.

The biggest crowd at the NEC was during the quarter-final games between France and Italy, and the Black Ferns-Wales clash on October 29, when 16,834 fans came through the gates.

A week earlier, 16,571 people turned up for New Zealand’s first game in Whangārei, while the attendance on October 15 was 5106, and 3552 on the opening round of matches the previous weekend.

A combination of affordable ticket prices (just $5 for kids and $10 for adults), Northland-born Black Ferns players like Murray, and the first-ever Women’s Rugby World Cup games in the region enticed spectators to the NEC.

Northland’s gross estimated cost of hosting the games was $10.1m. Of the 10,866 visitors to Northland during the tournament, 8768 were domestic and the rest were overseas tourists.