Raggamuffin moving to Auckland says promoter

The Raggamuffin festival may be moving to Auckland.

It's injected millions of dollars into the Rotorua economy since it began in 2008 - now the city is losing Raggamuffin to Auckland, its promoter says.

Promoter Andrew McManus, founder of McManus Entertainment, said the annual reggae musical festival will no longer be held in Rotorua, citing a poor turnout this year and a lack of support from locals.

However, to relocate the event, the Rotorua District Council would have to release McManus Entertainment from the 2015 festival - the final year of a five-year contract to stage the festival in Rotorua.

Image 1 of 41: Raggamuffin. PHOTO: BEN FRASER

During the council's Operations and Monitoring Committee on Tuesday, the council agreed to consider releasing the promoter from the contract, but any decision would be subject to the completion of the promoter's obligations around Raggamuffin 2014.

The council was unable to say what the promoter's obligations were, as they were part of a contractual agreement and were commercially sensitive.

Mr McManus said he lost more than $1 million from the concert this year, which was one of the reasons he wanted to be released from the contract. He said the number of locals buying tickets at the gate dropped from 17 to 0.7 per cent this year.

About 70 per cent of the people who attended this year were from Auckland, so it made sense to move the event there, he said. But he couldn't confirm whether it will be held there next year until an official announcement was made. "It's very sad for Rotorua. But there's nothing I can do, locals were not supporting me."

Council economic and regulatory services group manager Mark Rawson said music festivals like Raggamuffin would inevitably come to an end of their natural lifecycle at some point as changing music trends, economic conditions and other factors came into play. "If Raggamuffin doesn't go ahead here in 2015, the challenge will be to secure something fresh that captures the attention of music fans and brings out-of-towners into our city," he said.

Events and Venues general manager Peter McLeod said Raggamuffin had helped put Rotorua on the map as an entertainment destination.

"Raggamuffin has become a valuable brand synonymous with reggae and music festivals. It is estimated to have injected between $3.5 million and $9.3 million into the Rotorua economy each year since it started. Over the years it's also provided direct income to the council in the region of $300,000, reducing ratepayer funding needed for the operation of Events and Venues."

He said the festival had attracted 145,000 fans, at an average of 21,000 each year. The first Raggamuffin, in 2008, attracted the biggest crowd with 32,000 people attending.