Housing

There are 68,901 dwellings in Wellington city, with 54.3% of these owned. One-quarter of dwellings are one-person households.

The average house value in Wellington city is $538,000 with a median weekly mortgage payment of $340.

Business

There are 25,284 Wellington-based businesses and there has been a 22% growth in business units here since 2000.

Nearly half (46%) of Wellington city workers are employed in businesses with more than 100 employees.

A visit to the Capital City would not be complete without a visit to NZ's beautifully refurbished Parliament Buildings.

Located in the historic suburb of Thorndon, the complex is made up of three architecturally distinctive buildings: the Edwardian neo-classical Parliament House, the Victorian Gothic Parliamentary Library and the unique 1970’s style Beehive building.

In 2008, Wellington was classified as a Gamma World City in the World Cities Study Group’s inventory by Loughborough University. The 2010 Mercer Quality of Living Survey ranked Wellington 12th in the world. In 2011 Lonely Planet Best in Travel 2011 named Wellington as fourth in its Top 10 Cities to Visit in 2011, referring to the New Zealand capital as the "coolest little capital in the world".

Tourism

The city is home to many museums, theatres and arts festivals, including Te Papa Tongarewa (the Museum of New Zealand), the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, the Royal New Zealand Ballet, and the biennial Festival of the Arts.

Wellington is also a leading centre for creative industries, such as film and computer technology, and it is the home of the New Zealand Stock Exchange (NZX).

The city is situated alongside Wellington Harbour and surrounded by natural beauty including Zealandia, an award-winning eco-attraction just minutes from the central business district.

Wellington is marketed as the 'coolest little capital in the world' by Positively Wellington Tourism, an award-winning regional tourism organization  set up as a council controlled organisation by Wellington City Council in 1997. The organisation’s council funding comes through the Downtown Levy commercial rate.

In the decade to 2010, the city saw growth of over 60% in commercial guest nights. It has been promoted through a variety of campaigns and taglines, starting with the iconic Absolutely Positively Wellington advertisements. The city’s long-term domestic marketing strategy was a finalist in the 2011 CAANZ Media Awards.

Tourism is a major contributor to Wellington’s economy, injecting approximately $1.3 million into the region annually and accounting for 9% of total FTE employment. The city is consistently named as New Zealanders’ favourite destination in the quarterly FlyBuys Colmar Brunton Mood of the Traveller survey and it was fourth in Lonely Planet Best in Travel 2011’s Top 10 Cities to Visit in 2011.

New Zealanders make up the city’s largest visitor market, with 3.6 million visits being made to Wellington each year. New Zealand visitors spend on average $2.4 million a day in the city. The capital has approximately 540,000 international visitors each year, who spend 3.7 million nights and $436 million in the city each year. Wellington's largest international visitor market is Australia, with over 210,000 making the trip across the Tasman and spending a total of approximately $334 million annually.

Cruise tourism to the capital is experiencing a major boom, in line with nationwide development. The 2010/11 season saw 125,000 passengers and crew visit the city on 60 liners. There are 80 vessels booked for stopovers in the 2011/12 season – estimated to inject more than $31 million into the region’s economy and representing a 74% increase in the space of two years.

Wellington is a popular conference tourism destination due to its compact nature, cultural attractions, award-winning restaurants and access to government agencies. In the year ending March 2011, the city hosted 6495 conference events involving nearly 800,000 delegate days; this injected approximately $100 million into the economy.

Popular tourist attractions include Museum of Wellington City & Sea, Wellington Zoo, Zealandia (Karori Wildlife Sanctuary) and Wellington Cable Car.

Museums and cultural institutions

Wellington is home to Te Papa (the Museum of New Zealand), the National Library of New Zealand, Archives New Zealand, the Museum of Wellington City & Sea, the Katherine Mansfield Birthplace Museum, Colonial Cottage, the New Zealand Cricket Museum, the Cable Car Museum, Old St Paul's, and the Wellington City Art Gallery.

The Museum of Wellington City and Sea is a museum on Queens Wharf in Wellington, New Zealand. It occupies the 1892Bond Store, an historic building on Jervois Quay on the waterfront of Wellington Harbour.

The Museum has three floors about the history of Wellington. By The Sea We Live celebrates the city’s maritime history, while Te Whanganui-a-Tara looks at early Maori and European settlement. A twentieth century gallery explores how Wellington has changed over one hundred years. A giant cinema screen shows a series of films about Wellington. There are two theatre areas: one tells Maori myths using a 'Peppers Ghost', and the other is a memorial to the tragic sinking of the Wahine ferry in the Wellington harbour. An adjacent gallery holds the Plimmer’s Ark display, the remains of an 1848 sailing vessel uncovered during restoration of the Old Bank Arcade.

The Colonial Cottage is central Wellington’s oldest identified building and was built in 1858 as a family home by William Wallis, who had just immigrated from England.

The cottage has now been preserved as a museum and has been furnished to show mid 19th century living. It illustrates the ways in which the first colonial settlers blended their lives from their Victorian homeland with the dictates of a new country. There is also a very attractive garden around the cottage which features many plants from the period.

The Colonial Cottage Museum is within walking distance of the CBD and is at the start of the Aro Valley Heritage Trail. While general opening hours are limited, special tours and educational visits can be arranged (cooking pikelets on the coal range is a standard inclusion in all group visits).

The city is home to the innovative Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, and is famed for its public art trails and Bohemian lifestyle.

You’ll find Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa on Wellington’s picturesque waterfront. This innovative museum takes visitors on an exploration of the great stories of the youngest country on earth and the people who live here; it also houses New Zealand’s national art collection and regularly showcases international touring exhibits.

A lot of places have art. A lot of places have galleries. A lot of places have art and galleries. What makes Wellington New Zealand’s cultural capital is its spirit – its enthusiasm and passion for the arts. The city’s compact nature makes for a great place for following public art trails and enjoying dinner out, followed by a night at the theatre; and so the locals do in spades. You’ll find a show on almost every night in the theatre district – centred around Courtenay Place – or if you’re interested in live indie music, head to vibrant Cuba Street.

Wellywood

The work of filmmaker Peter Jackson and Oscar-winning Weta Workshop has taken Wellington to the world and the world to Wellington, through movies like Avatar, The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit. Film themed tours and visits to the Weta Cave in Miramar - the heart of ‘Wellywood’ – are a must for movie fans. Positively Wellington Tourism’s themed itinerary also has great tips on the stars’ favourite haunts.

Film-making and film-going are part of the culture in the city fondly known as Wellywood. Catch a film at the incredible Embassy Theatre, which played host to the world premiere of The Return of the King – you never know who may have sat in the seat before you. Wellington’s suburbs are dotted with gorgeous art house theatres; visit the Empire Theatre in the cute seaside suburb of Island Bay, the art deco Penthouse Cinema in Brooklyn, or the Lighthouse Cinema in Petone. These cinemas regularly host film festivals, so be sure to check out what's on during your visit. Visitors can also get a feel for New Zealand’s cinematic history at the Film Archive.

Galleries Galore

One of the jewels in Wellington’s art crown is City Gallery in Civic Square, which offers a programme of contemporary visual arts, architecture and design. Located in the heart of Civic Square, City Gallery Wellington offers world-class exhibitions of contemporary New Zealand and international art.

City Gallery Wellington provides visitors with sometimes challenging, always captivating art from some of the world’s most exciting artists. With specific galleries dedicated to Wellington artists, Maori and Pacific arts, and future programmes dedicated to the Wellington City art collection, as well as extensive education and public programmes, City Gallery Wellington enables diverse audiences to experience art in new and inspiring ways.

City Gallery Wellington is a dynamic cultural presence in the capital city of Aotearoa New Zealand. Whether it’s the latest exhibition of New Zealand’s avant-garde artists, an international collection visiting the gallery or just the gallery’s renowned café Nikau, there are plenty of reasons to put Wellington’s eyes-and-ears-on-the-arts on your schedule.

Featherston and Victoria Streets have a great collection of boutique dealer galleries, while you’ll find something more edgy in the Cuba Street precinct.

A short trip out of town is the cutting edge Dowse Art Museum in Lower Hutt and PATAKA in Porirua is a must if you’re keen to look at Maori, Pacific Island and New Zealand art. Having undergone an extensive six million dollar makeover by Athfield Architects in 2006, The Dowse Art Museum has been re-born as a cultural hub, with an eclectic display that includes fashion, jewellery, multi-media vignettes and finely-crafted ceramics.

Throughout the gallery are a series of visual 'snacks' that change every 6-8 weeks and a sprinkling of creative posts for visitors to roll up their sleeves and reach within to find their inner-artist.

As well as housing over 300 pieces, the gallery contains a destination cafe and gallery shop, an outdoor courtyard, conference facilities and a creative workshop specially designed for hands-on classes and programmes.

Open seven days a week, 10am-5pm.

On the Stage

You can enjoy live theatre at its best at Downstage Theatre, Circa Theatre and BATS or catch a show at the beautifully restored Opera House or St James Theatre, which have a steady stream of ballet, opera and musicals. The theatre precinct is centred around Courtenay Place and the waterfront, and is surrounded by restaurants and cocktail bars. You’ll also find live theatre outside the city in Hutt Valley - at the Little Theatre, Expressions Arts and Entertainment Centre or in Porirua’s Little Theatre.

Live Music

Wellington has a vibrant local music scene and has produced leading New Zealand bands such as Fat Freddy’s Drop and The Black Seeds. From edgy local bands to internationally acclaimed musicians, the city is alive with music nearly every night of the week. The New Zealand Symphony Orchestra and the NBR New Zealand Opera also call Wellington home, as well as the folk-comedy sensation, Flight of the Conchords.

Art and About

Hiding below seawalls or twisting and turning in the wind, sculptures pop up everywhere around you when wandering through the city. Wellington loves to embrace its famous windy days and to celebrate Wellington, artists have made a series of wind sculptures all around town. The most photographed man in Wellington has to be Solace in the Wind – a Max Patte sculpture that looks set to dive into the city’s harbour just outside Te Papa – and the Wellington Writers Walk literally sets words about the capital of cool in stone.

The Wellington Writers Walk was opened during the NZ International Festival of the Arts in March 2002; and is a project of the New Zealand Society of Authors’ of Wellington Branch. It consists of a series of 19 text sculptures located along Wellington’s beautiful harbour. Each one contains a quotation about the city from a poem or piece of prose by one of the many talented writers who have made Wellington their home at some point in their lives.

The writers in the walk include Katherine Mansfield, Robin Hyde, Pat Lawlor, Denis Glover, James K. Baxter, Bruce Mason, Lauris Edmond, Maurice Gee, Patricia Grace, Vincent O’Sullivan, Fiona Kidman, Barbara Anderson, Alistair Te Ariki Campbell, Eileen Duggan and Bill Manhire.

The Wellington Cable Car is a funicular railway in Wellington, New Zealand between Lambton Quay, the main shopping street, and Kelburn, a suburb in the hills overlooking the central city, rising 120 m over a length of 612 m. It is widely recognised as a symbol of Wellington.

Wellington Zoo is nestled in the green belt of Wellington, New Zealand. Now over 100 years old, it was the country’s first Zoo and has 13-hectare (32-acre) dedicated to over 100 different species of fauna from across the globe. Wellington Zoo is a significant contributor to conservation efforts including breeding programs for endangered species such as the Sun Bear and Sumatran tiger, as well as spreading conservation and sustainability messages to the wider community.

Local swimmers are now enjoying the benefits of our $12 million investment drive in aquatic facilities around the city.

Just last month two new pool facilities were opened in the Capital - a dedicated hydrotherapy pool at Wellington Regional Aquatic Centre in Kilbirnie and a new learner facility at Karori Pool.

Mayor Celia Wade-Brown says the funding reflects the high value we place on learning to swim and staying active, fit and healthy.

"Our new and improved facilities provide health, safety and fitness benefits for Wellingtonians of all ages."

The $2.4 million hydrotherapy pool is expected to be heavily used. The warmer water in hydrotherapy pools can provide pain relief for conditions such as arthritis and can also help people recover from surgery or muscle injuries.

"There's been a real need for a dedicated hydrotherapy service in Wellington since 2005 when the existing facility at Wellington Hospital was decommissioned," says the Mayor.

At Karori Pool, the new $600,000 7m x 4m learner pool has been installed in an area which was previously an under-used outdoor courtyard. Councillor John Morrison, Sports and Events Portfolio Leader, says the pool will provide a dedicated, quieter environment for learners - which will help improve the quality of lessons and open up more space for swimmers in the main pool.

"Now we've got more Wellingtonians than ever taking swimming lessons, which is terrific both for fitness and water safety. Our approach is to free up space for lessons and allow our pools to cater for more people."

Two local school pools have also recently been upgraded with the help of a Council grant from our contestable School Pools Partnership Fund, which helps schools maintain and improve their pools for wider community benefit.

A $55,000 grant to Berhampore School helped to complete an upgrade last month that included new pipes, filters, pumps, a heater, paint for the changing sheds, and hot showers. A further grant of $69,000 assisted with a roof for the pool.

TASKS