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New Zealand event ticketing and tourism operators are moving to integrate their technologies with the My Vaccine Pass introduced by the country’s Ministry of Health.

Being made available to the more than 3.4 million New Zealanders who are fully vaccinated, the passes can be downloaded to a mobile device or printed out and can then attend festivals and concerts, community and sporting events, hospitality settings, retail establishments, community and sporting events, religious gatherings and other functions.

Moving quickly to integrate the new passes, Eventfinda has announced that it will enable ticket holders to upload their ‘My Vaccine Pass’ to their ‘My Eventfinda’ account, which customers can also do during the purchasing process, to allocate their vaccine pass to their tickets.

This can be done using a PDF, photograph or a screenshot of the COVID pass.

Consisting of a QR code that will need to be shown wherever proof of vaccination against Coronavirus is needed, the ‘My Vaccine Pass’ will soon be available soon through ‘My COVID Record’ from the New Zealand Ministry of Health.

Scanning apps from Eventfinda will verify both the Eventfinda tickets and ‘My Vaccine Passes’, with the mobile ticket scanning apps for iOS and Android available for promoters and venues next week.

Explaining the integration, Eventfinda Chief Executive, James McGlinn stated “there’ll be many events people can’t attend without proof of vaccination provided by the Ministry of Health. We wanted to make the verification process as streamlined as possible for venues and promoters, as well as ticket holders.”

Auckland-based iTicket has also worked to integrate pre-verification for events using the soon-to-be-released ‘My Vaccine Pass’.

Working with Auckland-based identity provider MATTR, the New Zealand Government’s technology provider for the COVID-19 vaccine pass and verifier app, iTICKET has secured an integration license to provide secure pre-verification for events built into the ticketing process. Event promoters who wish to use pre-verification can make their onsite entry process faster and more streamlined for events where vaccine passes are required.

After purchasing tickets online through the iTICKET website, customers will then link to a new portal enabling them to officially pre-verify their MoH issued vaccine pass for their ticket ahead of time, along with the ability to share other tickets to friends for them to do the same. By pre-verifying, this means attendees will only need a single scan of their ticket on arrival at the event.

With development underway, iTICKET's pre-verification feature will be available in time for the delivery of the government's new ‘My Vaccine Pass’ system which is set to be released by the end of November.

iTICKET Managing Director, Reece Preston commented "It was important for us to reach out to MATTR quickly to ensure delivery of this offering in advance of the My Vaccine Pass rollout later this month. Providing promoters with options now, and being able to minimise wait times on arrival for customers with streamlined verification is imperative to delivering a great event experience."

With these technologies in place, organisers of upcoming festivals are confident events will go ahead.

Following the announcements of the last 24 hours, Rhythm and Vines Marketing and Partnerships Director, Kyle Bell said he was feeling "pretty confident" after today's announcement, telling news website Stuff “we’re 100% planning to go ahead

The annual three-day New Year's music festival, held north of Gisborne attracts some 20,000 people, about 40% of whom are from Auckland.

A statement from the event said it welcomed the release of the ‘My Vaccine Pass” and was exploring additional initiatives to ensure a safe and smooth check in to the festival including having a pre check-in event at Spark Arena in Auckland on 27th December.

It advised “this initiative will ensure a smooth check in process for those attendees then arriving at the festival.”

Business Events Industry Aotearoa Chief Executive, Lisa Hopkins says New Zealand Government’s underwriting summer festivals shows it has confidence they will be able to go ahead.

Also welcoming the arrival of the ‘My Vaccine Pass’ and opening up of Auckland from 15ht December, Flight Centre New Zealand Managing Director, David Coombes noted that summer is the busiest time of year for domestic travel, commenting “the sector is rejoicing with the knowledge that the city with the largest population in the country will now be able to get out and about and spend those crucial dollars in regional New Zealand.”

As of last week, all Flight Centre Auckland stores had reopened, joining the rest of its stores open across the country.

Images: New Zealand My Vaccine Pass (top), its integration into Eventfinda's technology (middle, credit: Eventfinda) and Rhythm and Vines Gisborne (below, credit: Eventfinda).

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