For many Auckland attractions the Explore Tāmaki Makaurau voucher programme has proven to be a real lifeline during Auckland’s road to recovery, with 105 per cent vouchers used and nearly all $9 million funding distributed to help revive economic, social and cultural activities in Tāmaki Makaurau.
The voucher programme was delivered by Auckland’s economic and cultural agency Auckland Unlimited and is part of the $32.5million Reactivating Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland Support Package announced by the Government in December.
Auckland Unlimited’s Director of Investment and Industry, Pam Ford, says:
The voucher programme has achieved considerable impact, and we’ve had incredibly positive feedback from operators and Aucklanders.
“The programme achieved what it set out to do. More than 438,000 Aucklanders have got out and enjoyed fun experiences together and, at the same time, helped support our region’s activity and attraction businesses which have done it tough in recent years due to COVID-19 restrictions.
“A key priority was to see whānau in every part of Auckland benefit, so the main four draws distributed vouchers fairly based on population size of local areas. We were delighted to largely see an equitable redemption rate across the region,” says Ford.
Aucklanders were able to register for a voucher from 15 December to 25 February, and vouchers were randomly allocated across four scheduled draws and two bonus draws taking place from January to April. Voucher recipients received a $50 or $100 voucher that could be used towards booking an experience on the Explore Tāmaki Makaurau Bookme website.
We worked incredibly hard to see as many of these vouchers redeemed as possible, and as much of the $9 million in funding as possible end up with activity and attraction operators
“The two bonus draws were an important opportunity to extend the programme’s boost to local businesses and offer every valid registrant the opportunity to use a voucher. Through the two bonus draws, we saw a further nearly 68,000 tickets booked and a further $1.3 million injected into the economy,” says Ford.
Participating businesses include major attractions such as the Sky Tower, Rainbow’s End, SEA LIFE Kelly Tarlton’s, MOTAT, Snowplanet and Auckland Zoo, as well as ten pin bowling, escape rooms, mini putt, go karting, ice skating, guided tours, sailing, equipment rental and ferry services such as Kawau Island Super Cruise.
The programme continued to operate through the Red Traffic Light setting, with many activity and attractions operators able to open safely, in line with Ministry of Health requirements.
Voucher recipients had 14 days to use the voucher to book an experience that took place within the programme period, which was extended to 30 June 2022 (from the original date of 30 April). The extension was to allow greater flexibility for customers and businesses to manage bookings impacted by COVID-19.
Vouchers not used to make a booking before the 14-day expiry date were reallocated in future draws. Over the course of the programme, 204,506 registrants were allocated a voucher, with a 52 per cent redemption rate across the whole programme.
Key numbers of the Explore Tāmaki Makaurau Voucher Programme, as of 28 April:
- Approximately $8.5 million of vouchers redeemed with activity and attraction operators, from the $9 million available
- 105,830 vouchers (of 100,000 available) have been used
- 438,954 experiences (individual tickets) have been booked
- 225,226 Aucklanders registered for the voucher programme
- 100+ businesses received voucher bookings
Please note, the above data is subject to minor change due to the nature of voucher redemption (e.g. cancellations and rebooking). A full and final breakdown will be available after the programme closes on 30 June 2022.
About the Explore Tāmaki Makaurau Voucher Programme
The Explore Tāmaki Makaurau Voucher Programme is one programme of the Reactivating Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland Support Package announced by the New Zealand Government on 1 December 2021. Other programmes include the Explore Tāmaki Makaurau Discount Programme and the Local Activation Programme. Further information on these programmes is available at www.aucklandnz.com/reactivate
Distribution and redemption, by local board:
- Vouchers were allocated randomly through an automated process and distributed based on the population size of each local area. This was to achieve an even distribution of vouchers across all eligible areas and communities.
- For the first four scheduled draws, vouchers were evenly distributed across all local board areas based on population size.
- Across all Local Board areas, the average redemption rate for the first four scheduled draws was 51 per cent, and ranged from 44 – 55 per cent.
- The available registrations for some Local Board areas were exhausted by Draw 4 – meaning all registrants in those areas had received a voucher by the time the fourth draw was distributed – This meant that subsequent draws were not able to equitably distribute vouchers into all areas.