Queenstown hits highest guest nights ever

Wednesday, 11 September 2013, 5:12 pm
Press Release: Destination Queenstown

Media release from Destination Queenstown
11 September 2013

Queenstown hits highest guest nights ever

Queenstown has broken its record for highest number of guest nights ever according to Statistics New Zealand figures released today.

The Commercial Accommodation Monitor (CAM) for July 2013 showed that total guest nights rose 10 percent to 289,891 – the highest figures recorded across any month of any year. The previous record was January 2012 at 288,994 guest nights.

The CAM also showed a sharp spike in domestic guest nights - up 15.3 percent (or an extra 13,406 nights) to 100,977 compared with July 2012. International guest nights rose 7.3 percent to 188,914, accounting for 65.2 percent of the region’s guest nights. Growth was experienced across all accommodation sectors.

Destination Queenstown CEO Graham Budd said it was great to see numbers continue to build after a record-breaking start to winter in June.

“July is traditionally our peak winter month so we would expect a strong performance but good snow conditions, increased scheduled flights and flight capacity, and New Zealand and Australian school holidays were definitely key drivers for the surge in guest nights.

“This is the third year we’ve seen incremental guest night growth for July so we’re very pleased with the results.”

The July 2013 Commercial Accommodation Monitor report for Queenstown is available on the Destination Queenstown website: http://www.queenstownnz.co.nz/Media/Statistics2_md/.

ENDS

Note: Commercial guest nights are defined as one guest staying for one night in the resort.

© Scoop Media