Benje uses regional insights to empower organisations to make better decisions and monitor outcomes that matter.
Read more
Queenstown-Lakes’ labour market continues to have the fastest employment growth in the country. Over the past 12 months, there has been an 11% increase in employment within the District, backed up by a surge in working age people moving into the local area.
Population growth nationally accelerated from 0.1%pa in the June 2022 year to 2.1%pa growth in 2023. Of New Zealand’s 67 territorial authorities, 65 recorded growth, with only Buller and the Chatham Islands showing decline.
This blog post looks at tourism spending across New Zealand’s regions to establish how the tourism sector recovery is going since borders reopened. The findings of which regions have more visitor spending than before Covid-19 may surprise you.
Benje Patterson estimated the potential use and economic impacts of a proposed Taieri Gorge extension to the Otago Central Rail Trail. An extension would give opportunities for bikers or walkers to travel between Middlemarch and Taieri, allowing for easy access from Dunedin with its large population and range of supporting visitor amenities.
A change in government can have a significant impact on economic development. As the priorities and policies of a new government take shape, it's crucial for economic development agencies to adapt and align their strategies accordingly.
Economic development is evolving. As more seasoned professionals approach retirement, there is a growing expectation that younger talent will fill these key roles. This blog considers some of the factors you may need to succeed in economic development leadership.
Tourism is not just about the experience a visitor has while in New Zealand, the visit can forever change the person. There is untapped potential to build economic relationships with tourists beyond their visitor spend and lift their lifetime value to New Zealand.
Denver, Colorado has emerged as an unlikely hub for scaling up New Zealand businesses establishing their North American presence. New Zealand is Colorado's 6th largest provider of Foreign Direct Investment!
Often in New Zealand we limit our discussions of competition for labour to domestic and transtasman issues, but this is a global challenge folks! What's the data show and what can be done about it?
In New Zealand, we typically see remote work as an overarching benefit for our regions because of the employment opportunities it offers, but in the US there are growing concerns that remote work could spark a regional banking crisis.
Benje Patterson was commissioned by Enterprise North Canterbury to analyse the potential economic impacts from the creation of a dark sky reserve in Waimakariri centred on Oxford.
Arapuke Forest Park is a key drawcard for mountain bikers to Palmerston North and Manawatū District. In 2022, there was $5.0 million of spending in the region that was attributable to visitors for whom biking in Arapuke Forest was a key motivation for the visit.