Nineteen events in Queenstown, Wanaka and Central Otago have been given an economic helping hand by the Southern Lakes Regional Events Fund.
Funding worth $1.85million has been granted for events to be held from this month to next February.
Events ranged from sporting, music, business and cultural to workshops, arts and film festivals, food and wine and garden festivals.
They were spread across the wider region; two events would be held in Central Otago, 12 in Queenstown and eight in Wanaka, and three would be held across multiple towns in the region.
New events included summer mountain bike event MDA Experiences, and Synphony, an outdoor show.
The fund was managed through a recently formed investment panel, and chairman Murray Strong said the funded events would attract more than 72,000 out-of-region visitors and an additional $18,349,944 in visitor expenditure.
"That means for every $1 invested from the fund it will return an additional $9.94 in spend per visitor," Mr Strong said.
The Southern Lakes Regional Events Fund is part of the Government’s $50million regional events fund to stimulate domestic tourism to help replace some of the spending lost from international tourists because of Covid-19.
Mr Strong said applications were judged according to Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment criteria which included offering opportunities to local business, engaging the local workforce and using 50% local suppliers.
The amount each event received remained confidential, Mr Strong said.
