DKCM director Doug Kamo’s comments came as submissions closed yesterday on the Dunedin City Council’s wide-ranging plan to encourage more major events and festivals to come to Dunedin.
Mr Kamo said there was a real possibility for "events stagnation" if the council and commercial events promoters were unable to work together.
"Christchurch is going to be a massive thorn in our side," he said.
"You have the new convention centre humming along, and there is going to be a long honeymoon once the new stadium Te Kaha is open."
A "collective effort" to "build optimism" was required keep up Dunedin’s momentum, Mr Kamo said.
Last year, major events at Dunedin’s Forsyth Barr Stadium included pop superstar Pink and the New Zealand versus England rugby match.
Pink was estimated to have brought in $16.6 million to Dunedin’s economy and visitors to Dunedin for the All Blacks match were estimated to have spent $13.7m in the city.
Last month, the council announced France and New Zealand would play the South Island’s only rugby test match next year at Forsyth Barr Stadium.
However, because Christchurch’s Te Kaha stadium, which will have a capacity of about 36,000, was set to open in April next year, it was not certain these major events would return.
Mr Kamo said "a lot of thinking" was required to make sure major events still made it this far south.
Mr Kamo said he had read the council’s 32-page draft Dunedin Festivals and Events Plan, but due to time constraints, did not make a submission.
The plan proposes to build Dunedin’s reputation as a "great events destination" by providing a calendar of events that is "accessible, diverse and inclusive".
Save Dunedin Live Music, a community group that has been campaigning for more options for live music for several years, said in its submission, posted on social media, the plan was "too vague".
"While it is exciting to see the DCC celebrating the positive potential for festivals and events in Otepoti Dunedin, we would like to see more concrete statements as to how the council will ensure that it will indeed meet the goal of being ‘recognised as an easy place to put on events’.
"We would like to see the council move past the ‘explore options’ and ‘streamline processes’ phase — this has been the position held by the council during the last three years as we have attempted to lobby for improved conditions for event organisers."
The council’s consultation document said the council had an opportunity to be "solutions-focused through identifying opportunities for efficiency improvements in current council events processes", and also needed to be "looking at how other councils administer their compliance services for events".
Save Dunedin Live Music was unsure how the council would achieve these goals without concrete strategies and planning.
"We recommend that the DCC include definite actions: to reduce concession licences ... and to put in place a set number of pre-approved consents for each of the green spaces in Otepoti.
"These concrete actions ... would facilitate events and festivals in our city."
The organisation was also concerned about the more economic-focused aspects of the plan.
"We do not know what it means to ‘align our event offerings to the Ōtepoti Dunedin brand’, but it sounds like sanitising and controlling events.
"There is also too much of a burden placed on events to achieve outcomes [economic/social drivers] as opposed to celebrating art and culture."
The council will discuss the feedback on the draft plan at a later date.
