The Hills golf course might get outside help to ensure future New Zealand Golf Opens are held there, but possibly not in cash.
Arrowtown entrepreneur and New Zealand Golf Open host Michael Hill has said the event needs support from Government and the Queenstown Lakes District Council to help keep it in the region and ensure it grows as a festival event.
The Hills operations manager Sam Gent said yesterday the presence of Tourism New Zealand executives and Deputy Prime Minister Bill English over the weekend were good signs.
She said the Sky television coverage broadcast to five countries, and had highlighted the region and New Zealand.
"Michael wanted to showcase New Zealand - he has done that and is proud of it."
However, there was no economic benefit for The Hills to provide the venue for the tournament.
Because it was an "exclusive" and private course there would only ever be a limited number of members and so was unable to recoup expenditure through memberships and green fees.
"The other golf courses around the area are full, but we are not because we run on exclusivity.
"The Open brings thousands of people to the area . . . but we are losing quite a lot."
To offset that, help would have to come from other sources if the tournament was kept in Wakatipu beyond 2010.
Local councils in other areas contributed towards sporting events - Napier has a deal with New Zealand Football which saw most of the country's games played there: "Thousands of people go there to watch football . . . from out of the area."
QLDC chief executive officer Duncan Field said yesterday the tournament coverage had been as good as an advertising campaign and the council had plans for an events assistance fund - although "it would not be huge".
It was also looking for other ways the Queenstown Lakes District could become "event friendly".
The strategy identifies the district's small population and funding base as a "challenge".
"We are having a series of workshops . . . looking at what impediments there are for these events - it's not always about the money."
Mr Field said there could be ways council could help out with Resource Management Act issues or by helping provide infrastructure and resources to smooth the way.
"There is still a lot of work to be done on what sort of events would qualify and what we would need to get as a community," Mr Field said.
"There is a lot of value in making these things more diverse."
Saturday's Arrowtown Street Party had been a positive move in that direction and Ms Gent said it would be the beginning of more "diverse" events if the tournament was able to grow.
"We would like it to become a festival and have that sort of atmosphere," she said.
The interest shown by Tourism New Zealand chief executive officer George Hickton when he visited on Saturday had been a positive sign.
"It was the first time he has been and . . . he was very impressed when he walked around with Michael."
