Guest nights slipped in April, snapping 2 months of increases
Seasonally adjusted guest nights fell 0.7 percent in April from March.
Seasonally adjusted guest nights fell 0.7 percent in April from March.
New Zealand guest nights declined in April, snapping two months of increases, as a decline in holiday park accommodation outweighed an increase in hotel stays.
Seasonally adjusted guest nights fell 0.7 percent in April from March, according to Statistics New Zealand. Stays in holiday parks dropped 2.9 percent, while backpacker nights slipped 0.2 percent, motel stays fell 0.9 percent and hotel stays rose 3 percent, the agency said.
Domestic and international guests both dropped 0.3 percent from March, the agency said. Guest nights in the North Island increased 1.2 percent, while South Island stays slipped 0.7 percent.
Guests nights increased 3.6 percent in April from the year-earlier month, as domestic guest nights gained 1.6 percent and international guest nights jumped 6.7 percent, driven by gains across all accommodation types, the agency said. Nine of the 12 regional areas had higher guest nights.
"Most of the rise for April was from international guest nights," said business indicators manager Neil Kelly. "Visitor arrivals from overseas were up despite earlier Easter and school holidays in 2015 than in 2014."
On an annual basis, national guest nights rose 5.4 percent in the year through April, compared with the year earlier, the agency said.
Total capacity in short-term accommodation fell 0.7 percent in April compared with the year earlier month, while the occupancy rate improved to 42.5 percent from 40.6 percent.
(BusinessDesk)