Matt Cowley Tauranga City Councillor

Good quality events improve locals' pride in the city, as well as bringing in tourism spending, and Tauranga needs to have a reputation for being event-friendly to achieve these goals.

Event managers have approached Tauranga City Council for many years. It has only been since the last election where council is now resourced to properly provide the right advice and support for events across our city.

The new council has doubled the size of the major events sponsorship fund. We have also properly resourced our events department to support event managers through the approval process.

Council has three roles for supporting events - setting fair rules, having appropriate venues and providing sponsorship funding. The only events that council runs are the New Year's Eve festival and community events like ANZAC day.

New Zealand has a relatively small pool of professional event managers. It does not take long for our reputation to get out about whether Tauranga is a good place to hold events.

A recipe for having a good reputation requires event managers to engage council early, for council to provide a professional service and for residents to get off the couch and go to these events.

Council's new events strategy aims to improve tourist spending, inspire community pride and get a year-round events calendar. The city is building up a diverse events portfolio that we will reach with commitment over time.

Feel free to email me your thoughts to: matt.cowley@tauranga.govt.nz, call/text me on: 0276989548, and follow me at:www.facebook.com/a.younger.voice.​