Party Central
Posted on 22. Jun, 2009 by Campbell in Industry News, What's New?
The Rugby World Cup 2011 is creeping up very fast, and progress is finally being made on many of the infrastructure developments required to make this the best World Cup ever. Speaking at the TRENZ tourism event in Auckland, Prime Minister John Key announced that Auckland’s Queens Wharf will be used as ‘party central’ during the Rugby World Cup and could end up as a new cruise ship passenger terminal after all the festivities (and the serious business of rugby) are over.
In fact I was at TRENZ this year along with over a thousand sellers and buyers in the travel trade when the announcement was made. The timing of Key’s speech wasn’t perfect, as there was some uncertainty over exactly who was goign to pay or ‘own’ the wharf, but that has now been sorted out. Last week Prime Minister John Key announced Queens Wharf was to become “party central” for the 2011 Rugby World Cup, and put forward $20 million to buy half of the dilapidated pier from the Ports of Auckland, with the ARC (Auckland Regional Authority) buying the other half.
“Party central – it’ll be a place to congregate. There will be large TV screens and bars and places for people to come along and celebrate and you can imagine it won’t just be the six weeks of the campaign,” says Prime Minister John Key.
Key described a Rugby World Cup ‘Live Site’ – a large open air space capable of hosting between 10,000 and 15,000 people, which will be the focus for a mass public opening ceremony and act as a magnet for fans during the six-week tournament – the tournament’s ‘party central’.
“The Rugby World Cup will be a party on a scale never seen in this country before – but it will require Auckland to come to the party first,” he said.