Art Deco Festival was cancelled this year due to a change in Covid-19 alert levels. Photo / Mercia Paaymans
Art Deco Festival was cancelled this year due to a change in Covid-19 alert levels. Photo / Mercia Paaymans
Hawke's Bay's economy looked to be charting a more optimistic path with actual GDP growth in 2020.
But, 2021 is already looking more pessimistic following the cancellations of two of the region's biggest events, the Art Deco Festival and Horse of the Year.
Last year, despite Covid-19's impact and analert level 4 lockdown Hawke's Bay managed to regain all its lost ground and return a growth.
The region's gross domestic product (GDP) has grown 0.8 per cent for the year to December 2020, according to Infometrics' latest Quarterly Economic Monitor.
Business Hawke's Bay chief executive Carolyn Neville said the recent alert level 2 lockdowns and subsequent cancellations have cost millions.
"The March quarter is the key earning time for our tourism businesses, and a good season enables them to carry on for the rest of the year. It will be a tough winter for many this year," she said.
The Art Deco Festival was due to take place from February 17 to 21, but organisers cancelled the event when the country was plunged into alert level 2 lockdown (Auckland was put into level 3) for three days.
The Land Rover Horse of the Year show was meant to take place in Hastings from March 9 to 14. Photo / Libby Law
As of 2018 it was estimated that the Napier festival contributes approximately $12 million to the local economy.
HOY also had to cancel its event due to "Covid-19 uncertainty" and another community outbreak in the Auckland.
The show was meant to take place on March 9 to 14 and would've brought in 11,000 visitors to be Bay, spending approximately $5.29m, according to HOY chairman Tim Aitken.
Neville said Hawke's Bay has also missed out on other popular and lucrative events.
"We missed out on cruise ships this season, an estimated $32m loss to the region," she said.
And, there is no Mission Estate concert in 2021.
"Last year Sir Elton John played two sold out shows in February that saw many thousands of people travel to Hawke's Bay and spend in accommodation, retail and hospitality outlets," Neville added.
Michael Buble also played to a large crowd at the Mission Estate last year.
The Bay was topping the regional growth tables for economic performance before the two lockdowns occurred over the last month.
Hawke's Bay had also done much better than the national GDP, which declined 2.6 per cent last year.
Infometrics senior economist and director Brad Olsen said regional economies are in a better shape than other parts of the economy.
He said regional places were pressing ahead, with rising jobs numbers and bigger spending activity last year - especially Hawke's Bay and Gisborne.
"Strong primary sector activity has supported economic activity in the eastern North Island, with fruit exports performing particularly strongly," he said.
Other indicators of the regional's 2020 economic performance are a mixed bag, with the unemployment rate and job seeker support numbers both rising compared to 2019.
However, Neville did add that the fundamentals of the economy were "holding up."
"The people of the region are spending locally, supporting local businesses," she said.
Local consumers had been key to Hawke's Bay's economic recovery with spending up 2.5 per cent compared to a national decline of 3.2 per cent, yet tourist spending decreased by 0.5 per cent in the December 2020 year, according to Marketview data.
The financial impact of the cancellations of Hawke's Bay's major events in 2021 are not yet known, but, the economy looks to now be tracking a downward path.
