There's more to Cup than rugby, says chief

Martin Snedden says the tournament offers opportunities beyond rugby. Photo / Mark Mitchell

New Zealand must not get hung up on the performance of the All Blacks or they could miss out on the opportunity from hosting the Rugby World Cup, warns Rugby New Zealand 2011 chief executive Martin Snedden.

Snedden, speaking at the Trenz tourism industry conference in Auckland, said the philosophy that underpinned the bid to win the tournament was based on a catchphrase of a stadium of four million.

There was an obligation to do the best job possible to deliver the tournament, he said.

"But if we're actually going to make this into something that people sit up and look at overseas and say, 'Wow', it won't be just because of the rugby. It has to be more than that.

"The hosting of this event in the end must be paramount. We in New Zealand have every four years experienced the expectations and the heartache of the All Blacks going into every World Cup as favourites and coming out with nothing in their hands, since they won it in 1987."

There was an expectation the All Blacks would perform next year, Snedden said.

"That's all very well, but we will only get one significant opportunity to host an event of this magnitude," he said.

"If we become wrapped up in the fortunes of our own team we're going to miss the opportunity."

New Zealand had to make sure it looked after the projected 85,000 international visitors - and not just at the rugby ground but wherever they were, including in airports, bus terminals, bars and on the street.

The tournament is forecast to make a $39 million loss, although a report for the Ministry of Economic Development in 2006 estimated the wider economic benefit could be $507 million.

Auckland's Eden Park, which will host nine matches including the final, had been upgraded during the past three years and would be finished in September, while six other venues were also getting an upgrade.

The domestic and international uptake of the ticket application process had been as strong, and in some cases stronger, than hoped for, he said.

Accommodation would be a challenge during the last three weekends of the tournament and an official accommodation bank in partnership with the hotel industry had so far taken bookings worth about $69 million, Snedden said.

The tournament would be a period of very strong demand at certain times, he said.

"So there's no doubt whatsoever, as happens in every single major event, that hotel rates and other rates are going to reflect that.

"It's just a matter of making sure that what is reflected is balanced rather than completely over the top."