Auckland's Moana festival and the surrounding events are a great promotion for leading visitors to the city, and there's hopes a new grant could extra value next year, a city events leader says. Photo: Tim Marshall / Unsplash
Next year's Moana Auckland festival could bring even greater economic returns, if a government funding boost application is accepted, Auckland Council's cultural agency says.
Tātaki Auckland Unlimited (TAU) said the third edition of the ocean-inspired festival on Auckland's waterfront is expected to attract around 100,000 people, and inject an estimated $4.5 million boost to regional GDP.
The festival will run from 28 February to 15 March 2026 and aims to push out the shoulder season into March, to get some extra mileage out of summer in Auckland.
Over three weekends the programme will include Seafood & Summer Weekend, Z Manu World Champs, the Auckland Boat and Wooden Boats shows, among other events that are still to be announced.
TAU head of major events Michelle Hooper said those figures could increase following the additional activity application made for the festival.
"It would be additionality for the Moana Auckland Festival because it's going ahead anyway, but we'd hopefully be able to do some new and exciting and extra activity that we wouldn't otherwise be able to afford to do currently," she said.
"Our role is just not only to apply it for the funds directly ourselves, but really to support very heavily our own event industry here in Auckland."
"We want to make sure that our event promoters and event owners are getting as much of that fund as they possibly can, because we know that for every event that's put on, it's driving visitation, it's driving people coming into our shops."
"Everyone does better when events are on and we want to see that spread far around our amazing, very diverse and very large city as possible."
It follows last month's government $10 million Events Boost Fund announcement, which is a one-off $10 million fund aimed to increase international visitation and drive economic activity in the short-term, through supporting the growth and promotion of events.
Hooper said Tātaki Auckland Unlimited received more than 70 expressions of interest to apply for the government fund.
Applications to tap into the $10 million fund closed on Tuesday, although TAU said they weren't yet sure of when they would hear the outcome of the applications.
She said the Events Boost Fund would allow Auckland to amplify its events calendar and encourage more people to visit and to stay longer.
"We know what events do to drive GDP and visitation. We've been screaming for a long time about why it's so important to have a sustainable funding mechanism in place for major events. This is absolutely a step in the right direction.
Publicised events prompt people to "talk about your city positively", and "they encourage others to come, and that talkability is so key to promoting us as a destination," Hooper said.
"It's one of our key things as a city and as New Zealand, you know, we are a destination. It's a place where people have to invest a lot to get here, so we need really good reasons for them to come, and major event content and events in general are a great motivation to that.
"The government's recent announcement is ... an excellent way - and a way that we've been advocating for - for a long time to say, let's just do more major event activity."
The upcoming Wooden Boat Festival had been promoted heavily into the Australian Wooden Boats Festival which is to be held in Hobart, with the intent of attracting more Australian visitors to come to Auckland, she said. And the Event Boost Fund application, if successful, would partly be put toward more promotion of the Auckland boat festival in Australia.
"I think it's 30,000 people alone go to that festival in Hobart. So we're hoping to tap into that passionate Australian audience and get them travelling through to Auckland..."
Wayne Brown Photo: RNZ / Felix Walton
Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown said he was pleased to see the festival return for a third time.
"As a keen boatie and surfer myself, this has special appeal to me, and this is something that's iconically Auckland. Our harbours and beaches are a big part of who we are."
"We'll also have SailGP returning earlier in February, which means more international visitors will get to experience Auckland events. This is a festival for everyone - locals, families, visitors - anyone who wants to experience the best of our waterfront, our stunning Waitematā Harbour and our way of life."
"These events had a proven return on investment last time around, and I suspect the same for this summer."
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