Significant change is on the cards for Christchurch's Ellerslie Flower Show as officials stare down the barrel of growing financial losses.
The Christchurch City Council (CCC) has revealed the annual event ran at a loss of $516,000 this year, following on from a loss of $325,000 in 2013.
It's another nail in the coffin for a show which has run at an annual deficit for four of its five years in Christchurch.
Staff will present a range of options about the long-term future of the show at a full meeting on May 22, the council said in a statement. The public will be excluded from debate and details about the council's options will be kept secret for three days to protect commercial sensitivity.
A report released by the council this afternoon reveals the annual event has been struggling with a slump across the board, including a drop in ticket sales, corporate sponsorships and retail incomes.
Coupled with a $170,000 spend on garden content to follow on from a disappointing show in 2013, the total loss came out at more than $500,000 this year.
The council spent $3 million to bring the show to Christchurch in 2007, hoping it would become an icon for the city. The show does not receive any additional funding – with CCC as the owner, any profit is placed into reserves and any losses are absorbed by the council.
Those losses are now at $706,000 over five shows – with one cancelled in 2011 after Christchurch's earthquakes – a deficit of $141,200 per event on average.
In comparison the council spends $350,000 into the NZ Cup and Show Week every year, $450,000 into the Women's Golf Open and $230,000 to the World Buskers Festival.
Ironically, an audience survey has found this year's Flower Show was the most popular in Christchurch with crowd satisfaction at 94 percent. The figure is up from 45 percent in 2013 and 84 percent said they were likely to return.
The show's managing director, David Mee, has long called for the council to offer financial support, saying it's worth the cost.
3 News
source: newshub archive
