Nelson Business Guide to the Rugby World Cup

The Nelson City Council has put together a guide for businesses to make the most of opportunities provided by the Rugby World Cup. See the link here.

Nelson Business Guide to the Rugby World Cup

The guide is useful for providing dates of matches, fanzones and predictions of visitor numbers and providing a general overview. However, its missing out detail. I would like to see more focus on specific business sectors eg hospitality, tourism, retail, food and beverage sectors and the way these business clusters can make the most of the opportunties presented.

I'm also concerned that there seems to be few events or festivities organised in Nelson during the Rugby World Cup. When comparing Nelson to other regions, we seem to be lagging behind. Even Marlborough, our smaller neighbour seems to be more organised in comparison!

Overall, there seems to be a lot of talk about the business opportunities that may arise but I've yet to see much evidence of this in Nelson. While the Business Guide provides an opportunity for self promotion of some organisations, I have the impression that if you actually went to them, there would be little practical and real assistance on offer. The guide is sub-titled 'an opportunity unlike any other for Nelson businesses'. I have a feeling that many will be horribly disappointed.

I'm backing that the South Island Masters Games, to be held in Nelson from 14-23rd October, with over 30 sporting codes being represented will provide just as many opportunities. But how often have we heard about this event?