Fans celebrate at opening match of the FIFA Women's World Cup at Eden Park, which New Zealand won against Norway, on 20 July 2023. Photo: AFP/ Saeed Khan
Expectations were high ahead of the FIFA Women's World Cup, and tourism businesses say the tournament has definitely exceeded them.
Aotearoa hosted 29 games, drawing some record football crowds and adding to business' coffers during the quieter winter months.
Wētā Workshop Unleashed Auckland area manager Sam Holdich initially was not sure what the Women's World Cup would mean for business.
"There were reports of large ticket sales. But for a new business like ours, we didn't see the forward bookings initially.
"But that certainly changed literally on the day of the opening ceremony - we saw an immediate uplift."
Winter is usually pretty quiet - but they saw nearly 80 percent more international visitors during the majority of the Auckland matches compared to the same time last year, and a 45 percent boost to visitors overall.
"Very difficult for us to get internationals to us during this time of the year so without a major event like this occurring, we wouldn't have seen visitation like this at all."
Accor New Zealand-Fiji sales and marketing regional director Iain Ganner said their Auckland hotels would usually have 70 to 75 percent occupancy at the time of the year.
"Our hotels, about 50 percent of them filled over the period during FIFA. Last Tuesday, when the semi final was on in Auckland, we had about 60 percent of our hotels filled in Auckland CBD, and that's not really expected during the winter period in August."
Early figures suggested that the cup would boost Auckland's economy by roughly $60 million and generate more than 100,000 visitor nights across all accommodation for the city.
Auckland Unlimited host city programme director Santha Brown said the final figures were a way off yet, but it has been a boon for the city.
"Tourism operators have reported really high bookings through the tournament, period with some being fully booked. We've also heard anecdotally that businesses in the Kingsland and Morningside area have reported an over 400 percent increase in foot traffic during the tournament, and with that increase being spread across hospitality, bars, cafes and restaurants."
It has meant more visitors, spending and bed nights than the city would usually see in winter.
The average occupancy for commercial accommodation was about 75 percent during the tournament - even with 2400 more hotel rooms than a year or so ago.
Santha Brown said the city has also scored some upgraded training grounds.
"Auckland Council contributed close to $20 million with the majority of that funding going towards the training venue infrastructure upgrades so with the estimate of approximately $60 million boost to the region's GDP, that is a really strong return on investment."
Tourism New Zealand chief executive René de Monchy was delighted how well the World Cup has gone.
"My expectation would be that this event has over-delivered on what we expected and our expectations were high.
"Certainly if I talk to people at FIFA, they've shared that the viewership is higher. They've already achieved 2 billion viewers. We haven't had the final yet, let alone the third and fourth playoff. But they've already had more than 2 billion viewers and they've already sold more than 1.5 million tickets in both countries."
He has high hopes for what it could mean for tourism in Aotearoa.
"It's just given billions of people the opportunity to watch fantastic sport in New Zealand and hopefully dream about future trip as consequence of it."
The football action may have wrapped up in Aotearoa, but Auckland's fan festival will be open for the final two matches this weekend.
