Brent Eccles and Steve Armitage: Eccles Entertainment founder and Hospitality NZ chief executive on how we can bring more major events to NZ

Prime Minister Chris Luxon recently claimed he wants a constant flow of events to draw in international guests in order to stimulate the economy.

This follows big names in the tourism sector, like Sudima Hotels, calling for further investment into major events.

Eccles Entertainment founder Brent Eccles says the nation's major events fund has only covered sporting events, not concerts.

"It's quite a long lead time to access the fund - and with contemporary music, you don't have that lead time, it's pretty hard and fast. So we'll never quite be able to qualify."

Steve Armitage Hospitality NZ chief executive agrees extra funding is needed to bring more events to New Zealand.

"There are a lot of other artists I think it'll be great to bring here - Paul McCartney, Bruce Springsteen, The Eagles... first class, international entertainment works well in a stadium."

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