"I thought it was an absolutely amazing four weeks for the city. It went really, really well," Mr Staynes said yesterday.
"We didn't know how it was going to work out. We had a new stadium and we didn't know how that was going to work out. But, it was a brilliant effort by everybody. All the information I've had back has been fantastic," he said.
The DCC working party convened for the RWC a year ago to would have a debriefing today, Mr Staynes said, "and they'll all be getting a big pat on the back".
"The legacy of this is that we held ourselves up as a city that can host big international sporting events and concerts."
Dunedin Holiday Park owner Rex Moss said the month had broken all records for his business.
"We had over 600 campervans this weekend, which was almost up there with the 700 we had for the England-Argentina game, and we had about 400 for the midweek games.
We've never had figures like that before," he said.
"Our previous record for one night was 206, for the [2005] Lions game." Otago Motel Association president Richard Hanning said accommodation-providers had worked together to cope with the influx of tourists.
"It was very, very busy for all the motels and accommodation outlets. We've had a lot of international media staying here and the feedback has been so positive about Dunedin and the stadium. The benefits and flow-on are huge and will be felt for some time," Mr Hanning said.
"The opportunities are endless now for the stadium.
"The only disappointment, to me, is that we didn't get a semifinal. We've shown that we would have been more than capable of handling that."
Air New Zealand manager Alistair Bevin said 67,200 people had passed through Dunedin airport over the past five weeks.
"It's been very busy since the blue-ribbon game between England and Argentina. There were 550 departure flights from Dunedin during the period.
"It was particularly busy on the day after the England-Argentina game, on September 11. The second busiest day is actually today [yesterday].
We've had Italians going back to Rome and Irish going back to Wellington," Mr Bevin said.
"I'm delighted with how it's gone. The weather has been great and we've had happy people singing the praises of Dunedin and the stadium. It really has been phenomenal."
