Rugby World Cup spends $60 million on hotels

Fans celebrate at last night's South Africa-Samoa game at Albany. Photo / Greg Bowker

The Rugby World Cup has spent $60 million on hotels and other accommodation for teams and officials - adding to the country's income from the tournament.

But tournament boss Martin Snedden said the total benefits would only be known after it was over, and some intangibles could never be measured.

The World Cup has passed its halfway mark and enters its last weekend of pool play.

Snedden said the flavour of the tournament would soon see a shift in focus from rugby festivities to an "absolute winner-take-all" mentality.

"Every World Cup has two aspects to it. The first is the festival. The second is who's going to win the cup. And people are ready now for the final answer, and the anticipation is going to be really enormous."

Teams who failed to make the final eight have begun going home, and host cities outside Auckland and Wellington are wrapping up their final matches.

"I was in Napier [this week] for the Japan-Canada match and spent the evening with John Kirwan and some of the coaching staff, and it was hard to comprehend that they were going home already.

"It's really sad."

But host cities would be feeling that it had been worthwhile getting involved in the tournament, he said.

"All of them can be really proud about what they've done ... and my sense is that Rugby World Cup has left a nice feeling in each of the places that have finished."

Financial benefits from the tournament so far include international credit card spending of about $90 million - which does not include pre-purchased travel and accommodation.

Snedden said the tournament had spent $60 million on accommodation alone, and accommodation costs for visitors would add much more.

The tournament's costs are just over $300 million, with an estimated $150 million going to the International Rugby Union as hosting fees.

Snedden said analyses of the tournament's costs and benefits would be made eventually, contributing to the discussion about whether New Zealand could and should host again.

"I think it's really important at the end of the tournament that work is done to try to capture all of the benefits."