The recipients of round of three of the Fiordland Regional Event Fund have been announced, with a climbing invitational and a ukulele festival among the successful applicants. 

The fund, administered by Great South as part of the government’s post COVID-19 Tourism Recovery package, is intended to stimulate domestic tourism by supporting existing events or helping new events.

In this latest round, $142,500 of the $580,000 fund was distributed. 

One further round of funding for the remaining $90,000 will close on 26 August 2022.

Great South Conference and Events Manager Karen Witham said the Fiordland Climbing Invitational and the Te Anau Ukulele Festival were two events that intended to be a continued feature of the Fiordland events calendar.

“I think it’s really exciting that this fund is helping new events to get established.”

The Ukulele event is planned for 7-9 October during the school holidays and aims to attract families to Fiordland and kick off the town’s peak tourist season.

Other events that benefited from this latest round were mostly established events, such as the Meridian Hydro Half Marathon and the Mavora Explorer.

“It’s great to see these established events innovating and thinking about what they can do to attract outside visitation.”

Southland District Council deputy mayor and Fiordland funding panel member Ebel Kremer said he looked forward to seeing Te Anau thriving again, with the help of this fund.

“With international tourists able to return and new events on the calendar to attract domestic visitors I think we are going to see things turn around for Te Anau.”

A Southland Regional Event Fund that had $180,000 for Southland events was exhausted in October 2021.

An independent investment panel assesses applications for the fund.

Fiordland Regional Events Fund round three:

• Mavora Explorer
• Fiordland Climbing Invitational
• Te Anau Enduro
• Te Anau Events Community Events Charitable Trust Review implementation
• Meridian Hydro Half Marathon
• Te Anau Ukulele Festival
• One further event (yet to be announced)