New Zealand on Thursday marked one year out from the Rugby World Cup, the biggest event it has ever staged, with one of the host cities still reeling from a huge earthquake and officials warning about price gouging.
Tournament organisers said there was a growing sense of excitement in the country as the 12-month countdown began to the tournament’s opening match between New Zealand and Tonga at Auckland’s Eden Park on September 9 2011.
“The foundations are being laid for a tournament all New Zealanders will be proud of,” Rugby NZ 2011 chief executive Martin Snedden said.
Officials said New Zealand had never before hosted a tournament on the scale of the Rugby World Cup, billed as one of the world’s largest sporting events.
While New Zealand helped stage the inaugural World Cup in 1987, it shared the event with Australia and the amateur code was yet to undergo the surge in growth it experienced after turning professional.
The 1987 event remains the only time the host nation’s renowned All Blacks have won the tournament and the team will be desperate to transform its recent red-hot form into success for home fans.
Snedden said planning had not been derailed by Saturday’s 7,0-magnitude earthquake that hit Christchurch, the venue for seven matches, including two quarterfinals.
“We are monitoring potential impacts on our planning for RWC 2011, but at this stage there is nothing to suggest the region will not be able to play its part in hosting this event,” he said.
State of emergency
New Zealand’s second largest city remains in a state of emergency after the quake, which caused billions of dollars of damage, but Snedden said engineers had given the local AMI Stadium the all clear.
He said preparations around the country were going well.
“I’d rather be where we are now than perhaps where the organisers of the Delhi Commonwealth Games are,” he said, referring to the troubled lead-up to next month’s event in India.
Snedden said ticket sales — the main income for Rugby NZ 2011 — had reached 500Â 000, bringing in revenue of about $55-million. About 100Â 000 tickets have been snapped up by overseas sports fans.
With up to 85Â 000 overseas visitors expected for the showcase, he urged businesses to reflect on the damage overcharging could do to the country’s reputation.
“It’s a time of peak demand … during the tournament so it’s perfectly reasonable that their pricing reflects that, but against that they need to ensure that they don’t go overboard and start gouging,” he told national news agency NZPA.
“I think the key message is that no one is going to make a fortune, but it will be very easy to make or break a reputation in the short time that the tournament’s here.”
Local media have reported cases of hoteliers charging exorbitant prices for accommodation during the tournament.
The New Zealand Commerce Commission last week fined two Christchurch car hire firms for ripping off overseas customers and said they would be closely watching the tourism sector in the lead-up to the event.
“As the country prepares for the increasing number of overseas visitors expected for the Rugby World Cup, the commission is paying particular attention to those sectors providing goods and services to tourists to encourage compliance with competition and consumer legislation,” it said. — AFP