While this weekend’s Supercars Championship might not be a boon for every Taupō business, Replete Café owner Chris Johnston says, the event helps form part of an overall calendar that is good for the town’s businesses.
Johnston and other retailers Lake FM spoke to on Tuesday agreed that different events suit different types of business operator in the towncentre.
For some in hospitality the Summer Concert was great in the morning or the night before, for others multi-sport events like Ironman brought competitors in, or more likely their supporters, to pick up some souvenir or keepsake from their visit as well as dine and relax.
The Supercars event seemed a little overhyped last year, says Johnston, which perhaps put a few other potential visitors to the town off, and the fact that it was in the middle weekend of the first term school holidays gave some the impression Taupō was all booked up and not worth visiting.
He’s glad the organisation was prepared to listen about scheduling.
The timing is better this year, he says, leaving the Easter and Anzac Day holidays to become what could be a mini-break for New Zealanders to travel around the country and hopefully create a small domestic tourism spike, including in Taupō.
“The supercar parade into town last year had the town humming and those drone shots were amazing at showing off the whole area,” says Johnston, “but in general those Supercars fans are passionate about their sport and they’re out there at the track from early in the morning, not here in town. They don’t come in and order breakfast.
“But in terms of an event, I’d rather have it than not.”
Certainly, out at the track, the last day of set up before teams can officially move in had local hire companies, scaffolders, tradespeople and event organisers like Shanelle Barrett, managing director of SB Events Ltd, run off their feet.
The media tent which will cater for 60 media personnel from New Zealand and 20 or so from Australia was still a work in progress but Sports Media director Ian Heppenstall was confident everything would come together in time despite things at that stage appearing a little frantic”.
