Dunedin is nearly booked out, with some having to fork up to $1000 a night for a room, as international pop star Pink gears up to perform one of the largest concerts in the city鈥檚 history.
Around 32,000 fans are expected to pile into Forsyth Barr Stadium on Tuesday night to see the American singer at her third-ever concert at the venue.
To help ease the accommodation, demand the Dunedin City Council has converted the Victoria Rd car park into a temporary campervan area.
32,000 fans are expected to pile into Forsyth Barr Stadium on Tuesday night to see Pink. Photo / Supplied
Dunedin City Council events team leader Dan Hendra said 100 bookable spots are available for certified self-contained vehicles next to the Dunedin Ice Stadium, from Monday through to Wednesday.
Meanwhile, online travel agency Booking.com has no rooms available in Dunedin for Tuesday night, while Airbnb has three properties available: a campervan room in Halfway Bush and two properties in Fairfield, 12km away from the event, one of which costs $1166 a night.
Enterprise Dunedin manager John Christie told the Herald: 鈥淲ith the Pink concert on in the city, it鈥檚 going to be pretty tight for accommodation and a lot of people have made alternative arrangements but unfortunately it catches a few people out.鈥
Christie said there鈥檚 temporary accommodation being provided through car park spaces and i-Site is working with concertgoers to help find last-minute accommodation.
He told the Herald that demand for the Victoria Rd campervan park has been 鈥渃hocka鈥 with a 鈥渃ouple of sites remaining.鈥
Sharon Holt, who isn鈥檛 going to the Pink concert but was looking for accommodation in Dunedin, told the Herald she was struggling to find a spot back in December.
鈥淲e got to looking at accommodation in Dunedin and there was nothing - the only thing we could find was something that was $1500 for the night,鈥 Holt said.
Sharon and her husband decided to buy a van instead and convert it into a motorhome so they could find a camping site instead but to no avail.
鈥淚n January we committed to that option but there weren鈥檛 even any campervan sites at all,鈥 Holt said.
Forsyth Barr Stadium in Dunedin. Photo / Otago Daily Times
Despite the accommodation concerns, the tens of thousands of people heading to Dunedin are expected to bring in a large payday for the city鈥檚 economy.
John Christie said the concert is expected to bring in tens of millions of dollars.
鈥淲e know an All Blacks test match is about $10 million worth of economic benefits in the city, so this would be a magnitude slightly higher than that, but we won鈥檛 know the actual figure until the analysis is done,鈥 he said.
Dunedin鈥檚 St Paul鈥檚 Cathedral was lit up last night to celebrate the arrival of American pop singer Pink in the city. Photo / Otago Daily Times
Hospitality NZ chief executive Steve Armitage told the Herald that hospitality operators in Dunedin have been 鈥渁waiting the concert in eager anticipation.
鈥淲e are seeing that people are choosing to stay either a night or two on either side of the show which is a real bonus for the region.鈥
Armitage said around three-quarters of people heading to the gig are coming from out of town.
鈥淢any of those people are certainly going to be visiting hospitality establishments in the lead-up to the concert and most likely afterwards, so most of our operators are ensuring they鈥檝e got ample staff on hand and can cater to the demand that that we expect to see come through,鈥 he said.
Following her Dunedin show, Pink will play in Auckland on Friday and Saturday, before returning to Australia.
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