Visitors pour millions into Canterbury during Cup week

It is the week that Canterbury glams up, goes to the horse races and cashes in - and Auckland wants to get in on the action.

New Zealand Cup Week and the Canterbury A&P Show together have meant tens of millions of dollars of income for Christchurch this week.

About 26,000 people turned out at Addington Raceway for the running of the New Zealand Trotting Cup, perhaps the biggest event on the city's social calendar.

It is something Auckland hopes to emulate when the city's racing club launches its annual Auckland Cup Week Carnival next March.

What Christchurch had been able to achieve with Cup Week - which ends today - was "truly fantastic" for the racing industry, said Auckland Racing Club marketing director Rachel Holland.

"I think this is what Christchurch does so well, in that people, corporates, retailers can really gear up to a week that they know is going to be on each year versus an event that is staged every so often."

"I think it is something that Auckland could really do with. You look at Christchurch and Cup Week is just such a part of the city's culture and landscape."

But Michael Campbell, spokesman for the New Zealand Trotting Cup - the biggest attraction of Cup week in Canterbury - said Auckland had its work cut out.

The appeal was the combination of racing, fashion and the A&P show, the largest in the country.

Research on the Cup and Show Week in Canterbury, done in 2002 by APR Consultants, shows the events injected $23.6 million into the Christchurch economy.

About 15,600 people came into Christchurch for the races or the A&P show.

Between 10 and 19 per cent of those attending the Cup races were from the North Island, and about 2 per cent from Australia.

Christchurch City Council marketing manager Richard Stokes said the attendances had grown substantially since the 2002 research.

At the New Zealand Trotting Cup on Tuesday, the 26,000 punters at the raceway gambled $2.1 million.

But it is more than just the action on the track that draws the people. The week brings a "real buzz and vibrancy" to the region, says Christchurch and Canterbury Marketing chief executive Ian Bougen.

"It's a fantastic week and I think it has got the real ability to grow in the future, to get increased visitor numbers, both from the domestic market, and particularly from [Australia], he said.

"It's the whole activity that is on, which embraces more than just the racing community. If you take a look at the people out at the races ... they are not all diehard race addicts. There is an awful lot that are out there as a major social event."

* The new Auckland Cup Week runs from March 4 to 11.