AusLeisure

The major acquisition of successful Wellington ticket agency, Dash Tickets, will give the New Zealand ticketing industry more market power, according to Dash Tickets co-founder Nick Schembri.

Dash Tickets has been acquired by The Fortress Group, owner of New Zealand's largest Event Ticketing Agency, TicketDirect.

Welcoming the acquisition, Schembri explains "the new partnership provides Dash Tickets with added resources to continue our rapid expansion and the critical mass to lower costs through economies of scale."

TicketDirect and the Fortress Group Chief Executive Matthew Davey adds "our purchase of Dash Tickets is a great acquisition, we are bringing onboard a fantastic team along with a suite of ground-breaking new technology to broaden our scope in the market."

Dash Tickets is the first company to graduate from the Creative HQ business incubator, establish itself commercially including a team of 10 staff and then be on-sold, marking a cornerstone of Creative HQ's vision.

Creative HQ acting Chief Executive Tui Te Hau adds "Dash Tickets has earned their reputation as a nimble and courageous business, successfully taking on bigger industry players. Creative HQ worked with the Dash founding team fresh out of university and this acquisition, the first for Creative HQ alumni, is another example of the Dash team taking their business to the next level."

Going forward, the intent is to stick with what has been working, with Dash Tickets' name, brand, customers, staff and Wellington headquarters remaining the same.

Schembri adds "the only real change is the further resources that Fortress and TicketDirect can provide when people engage with Dash Tickets they will experience the unique talents of the Wellington team but also benefit from the resources of the wider group of Fortress companies."

The future growth of Dash Tickets could provide opportunities for more staff and significant overseas expansion, with Schembri concluding "we are now in a position to compete with Australian and American ticket agencies that operate here, but whose profits go offshore to the respective companies."

Clients of Dash Tickets range from the Ellerslie International Flower Show, Homegrown Music Festival, Wellington Cricket and Auckland Seafood Festival.

Schembri will remain with Dash Tickets as the company's Sales Executive.

The Fortress Group, under Fortress Information Systems Ltd., is a group of companies that specialise in developing and delivering advanced software solutions for the Events and Venues industry. Its holdings include TicketDirect, Dash Tickets, 1-night.co.nz and a diverse range of marketing and event services.

TicketDirect is New Zealand's premier home-grown international event ticketing service, established in Dunedin in 1999 by Matthew Davey. Starting from a single client (Carisbrook and the Highlanders), TicketDirect has grown to hundreds of Venues, thousands of events and selling millions of tickets in New Zealand, Australia and Fiji every year.

Click here to visit the Dash Tickets website.

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Asking a small favour
We hope that you value the news that we publish so while you're here can we ask for your support?

The news we publish at www.ausleisure.com.au is independent, credible (we hope) and free for you to access, with no pay walls and no annoying pop-up ads.

However, as an independent publisher, can we ask for you to support us by subscribing to the printed Australasian Leisure Management magazine - if you don't already do so.

Published bi-monthly since 1997, the printed Australasian Leisure Management differs from this website in that it publishes longer, in-depth and analytical features covering aquatics, attractions, entertainment, events, fitness, parks, recreation, sport, tourism and venues management.

Subscriptions cost just $90 a year.

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