International visitors drive accommodation rise

International visitors drive accommodation rise – Media release

27 January 2017

International visitors have again pushed up guest-night numbers, particularly for motels and hotels, Statistics NZ said today. National guest nights for October 2016 were 6.0 percent higher than in October 2015.

"All of the national rise in guest nights was from foreign visitors," business indicators manager Melissa McKenzie said. "Although domestic guest nights fell slightly, most other guest-night series are at record highs for an October month."

For October 2016, compared with October 2015:

• International guest nights were up 17.0 percent, while domestic guest nights were down 0.6 percent.
• North Island guest nights were up 6.5 percent, and South Island guest nights were up 5.3 percent.
• Eleven of the 12 regional areas had more guest nights.
• All four accommodation types had more guest nights.

The Accommodation Survey collects data for guests staying in hotels, motels, backpacker accommodation, and holiday parks in New Zealand each month. Private accommodation is excluded.

See Accommodation Survey: October 2016 for more information on monthly accommodation statistics.

Delay to the release

Due to the 14 November earthquake, we delayed this release from its scheduled date of 12 December 2016. Response rates for this release were lower than usual, requiring additional data imputation. November 2016 results will be released on 16 February 2017.

Ends

© Scoop Media