Supercars’ first-ever ITM New Zealand Double Header delivered a major boost to New Zealand’s visitor economy, generating $21.4 million in domestic and international visitor expenditure and attracting thousands of fans across both the North and South Islands.
The Repco Supercars Championship returned to Taupō International Motorsport Park for a third consecutive year, before making its long-awaited South Island debut at Christchurch’s Ruapuna Raceway the following weekend.
Economic analysis provided by Supercars suggests visitors spent about $9.5m in Christchurch and $7.9m in Taupō, while international visitors spent a further $4m elsewhere in New Zealand.
The event attracted about 3000 international visitors, who spent $9.3m during their stay and generated more than 34,000 international visitor nights across the country.
Supercars executive chairman Barclay Nettlefold said the results validated the vision behind creating the championship’s first New Zealand double header.
“The passion shown by fans in both Taupō and Christchurch was extraordinary, and we’re incredibly proud to have delivered a successful first Double Header across both islands.
“From the outset, our ambition was to create something bigger than two standalone race weekends. We wanted to give fans a reason to travel, stay longer and experience more of New Zealand while delivering meaningful economic outcomes for our partners and host cities.
“The results speak for themselves,” Nettlefold said, citing the more than $21m in visitor expenditure and 34,000 international visitor nights, which was “a tremendous outcome for New Zealand and demonstrates the strength of Supercars as a major tourism and events platform”.
Taupō District Mayor John Funnell said the event had once again demonstrated the value of major events to the region.
“These results show why Supercars is such an important event for the Taupō District. The inaugural double-header encouraged visitors to stay longer, delivering real benefits for local businesses and helping showcase our district to New Zealand and the world,” Funnell said.
Christchurch Mayor Phil Mauger said the city’s inaugural Supercars event had exceeded expectations.
“As a long-time follower of Supercars, it’s hard to express just how fantastic it was to welcome the event to Christchurch, both for our city and our local motorsport community.
“Seeing fans turn out in force, enjoying the racing at Ruapuna while supporting local businesses across the city, was incredibly rewarding.
“We’re thrilled to provide Supercars with a home in Christchurch as part of our world-class events calendar and look forward to building on this success in the years ahead,” Mauger said.
Also on Christchurch’s calendar is Super Rugby Pacific’s Super Round. The three-day celebration at Christchurch’s brand new One New Zealand Stadium saw more than 73,000 spectators attend, with more than 42,000 of them being unique attendees.
Of those, 16,570 were from outside of Christchurch and almost 4000 others were international visitors, from countries including the USA, the UK and Australia. And they opened their wallets. A report from Fresh Info says the spend was more than double what was predicted – topping $13.1m, with bed nights reaching 49,000.
Electric Avenue, a two-day music festival at Hagley Park in February, also injected almost $14m into the Christchurch economy.
Despite Sunday’s racing in Taupō being cancelled due to Cyclone Vaianu, the two events welcomed more than 95,000 people through the venues’ gates across five days of on-track action, including sellouts on Saturday and Sunday in Christchurch.
Dates for next year’s New Zealand Double Header will be announced in the coming months as part of the 2027 Repco Supercars Championship calendar.