"Now that the rugby season is under way with kick off of the rugby World Cup only a few months away it is a good time for quick update as to the Rotary home hosting programme.
To briefly recap Rotarians visiting New Zealand to follow their teams at the RWC can be hosted by local Rotarians in game venue cities. The cost to visitors is $150 per couple per night so a fantastic deal. Surplus proceeds are going to Polio Plus.
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| Click on image to go to Home Hosting web site |
So far bookings received exceed $20,000. Most visitors are from UK and South Africa with a sprinkling from Australia and even from NZ. A number are booking a substantial part of their stay through the hosting programme with a few gaps in between as they sight see around the rest of the country. A number have multiple bookings throughout the country in excess of $1,000.
Most of the demand is for accommodation in Auckland where the semis and finals are being held with a number of bookings in Wellington and Christchurch (although this is now in doubt after the 22 Feb earthquake) where the quarter finals are and a few in locations such as Nelson and Napier as visitors follow their teams.
The organisers of the home hosting programme are based in Wellington and are about to push the go button on further overseas promotion concentrating on UK and SA where there is clearly a good demand and closer to the start of RWC will push the programme a bit harder in Australia and here in NZ where it is expected demand to pick up closer to kick off day as people who have tickets realise that accommodation is the real issue.
There are also many other ways to leverage off what will be NZ wide activity with clubs linking in with local events around key matches as there will be a burst of activity around the games in the various cities hosting matches. "
