Auckland's events agency is confident it can attract enough visitors to more than recoup its investment in the V8 Supercar race.
The race will cost $10 million over five years, but the agency believes there will be a $7 million benefit each year.
Some $3 million of that is money that the agency says motorsport fans would otherwise take out of the region if the nearest race was in Australia.
The council-controlled organisation Auckland Tourism, Events and Economic Development (ATEED) says it will mount its biggest ever marketing campaign to attract 10,000 New Zealanders into paid accommodation for at least two nights for the first race next April.
Chief executive Brett O'Reilly describes as conservative the estimate of $4.8 million that domestic visitors will spend while at the event.
"It's new territory for the V8s event but it's not new territory for ATEED," Mr O'Reilly says.
"We've done that across a whole range of events - Rugby World Cup, Volvo Ocean Race, Jersey Boys - so we've got a lot of experience in a short time around this so we think we can bring that to the V8s in conjunction with the promoter."
