The word ‘amalgamation’ has long been loaded in Hawke's Bay. Say it in public and you'll get either an eye-roll or someone will entertain the discussion on the pros and cons of the last attempt. Yes, we tried it in 2015. Two-thirds of voters said no and for a decade, the idea sat in the drawer marked too hard.

It's out of the drawer now, and this time, it's not optional.

Let me lay out what the last three years have looked like for Aotearoa New Zealand, because I think we need to say it plainly: We are in the midst of a climate crisis and this is impacting our tourism sector. I'm not here to debate the science, that's settled. But I am here to highlight the increasing severity of our weather events and how we can respond.

There is a word I have been seeing a lot more of lately. It has been slowly infiltrating event websites, venue brochures, and tourism marketing. It shows up in funding applications and industry award nominations. The word is regenerative.

In many of the places I am seeing it, it does not belong.

2026 won’t be the year of big breakthroughs but it will be the year that separates leaders from laggards. Climate impacts are already affecting tourism, funding is tightening, and political caution is shaping the operating environment. Policy alignment lags behind science and community expectations, while local and central governments grapple with fiscal and electoral pressures. In this landscape, organisations that double down on capability whether in decarbonisation, impact measurement, or strategic resilience will quietly define what comes next.

For more than a decade, the events sector has been talking about legacy and impact. Yet for most of that time, ‘impact’ has been almost entirely synonymous with economic performance; contribution to GDP, visitor spending, hotel bed nights, and the familiar metrics that are easy to quantify and package for public reporting.

Meanwhile, the outcomes that matter most to communities including social, environmental, cultural, and knowledge-based benefits have often been acknowledged but rarely measured with any rigour.

Shared article: We’ve all been there. An email lands in your inbox, or maybe it’s an Instagram DM. It’s from a school, university or local council and it sounds something like this: “We’d love to hear your story,” or “Your insights would be so valuable for our accessibility policy.”

We were deeply saddened to learn of the passing of George Hickton over the weekend. His influence is imprinted on the very DNA of Aotearoa New Zealand’s tourism identity.

On Sunday afternoon, I joined the line of eager families waiting to enter STEMFest 2025. Even at 12:45pm, the crowd stretched down the street. The line moved quickly, and instead of frustration, there was a sense of anticipation and the buzz of children pulling their parents forward, wondering what awaited around the corner and inside.