Guest nights rise to a record in September, buoyed by tourism
Guest nights increased 5.2% to 2.48 million in September.
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Record numbers of tourists travelling the country have boosted accommodation coffers.
Guest nights in September increased 5.2% to 2.48 million from the same month last year – the highest level for a September month since Statistics NZ began collecting the data in 1996.
International guest nights jumped 7.7% while domestic guest nights rose 3.9%.
New Zealand tourism is booming, with overseas visitor arrivals up 9% to a record 3.04 million in the year through September, and arrivals for the month up 12% on the year earlier.
That's expected to continue as a decline in the value of the New Zealand dollar helps stretch the budget of overseas visitors, prompting them to spend more in New Zealand dollar terms, and making the country a more competitive destination, analysts say.
"There has been quite a pickup in inbound visitors to New Zealand, so the tourism industry itself is gaining quite handily at the moment," says ASB Bank chief economist Nick Tuffley. "We think the outlook for tourism and the supporting sectors for that is very encouraging."
South Island guest nights rose 10.2% from September last year, while North Island stays increased 2.4%.
Guest nights in the Otago region, a key tourism destination including Queenstown, jumped 11.6% to 378, while Canterbury stays rose 10.6% to 332 as bed capacity increased again following the earthquakes which devastated many of the city's hotels.
Increased capacity on airline routes through Christchurch, the gateway to the South Island, and to Queenstown, enabled better access for key markets in China and Australia and helped bolster visitor numbers, Mr Tuffley says.
Visitors from China rose 41% to a record 7472 in September, and that trend is expected to continue as consumer spending in China remains robust even as the economy slows, he says. "Chinese visitors are increasingly travelling independently and staying for longer, rather than coming for a brief packaged visit.
"We are really benefiting from the Chinese figuratively spreading their wings and developing a taste for travel and that is a key source of growth in visitor arrivals," Mr Tuffley says.
New Zealand has set new annual records for migration for the past 14 months, and the population growth may be underpinning domestic guest stays, he says.
(BusinessDesk)
Tina Morrison
Wed, 11 Nov 2015
Wed, 11 Nov 2015
© All content copyright NBR. Do not reproduce in any form without permission, even if you have a paid subscription.
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Guest nights rise to a record in September, buoyed by tourism
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