Guest nights down in February

Guest nights fell 1.5 percent in February 2011 compared with February 2010, Statistics New Zealand said today. International guest nights fell 4.0 percent, while domestic guest nights rose 1.0 percent. Although lower than in February 2010, guest nights in the latest month were similar to February 2009.

Seven of the 12 regions recorded fewer guest nights compared with February 2010. Canterbury had by far the largest decrease (down 14 percent), due to fewer international guest nights. This is consistent with the continued decline in international guest nights since the September 2010 earthquake and subsequent aftershocks. In February 2011, Otago was the only South Island region to record an increase in guest nights.

Due to the earthquake on 22 February 2011, we had far fewer responses than normal from accommodation businesses in Canterbury. This required a higher level of estimation than normal, and so figures for this region should be used with caution.

All four accommodation types had fewer guest nights in February 2011 than in February 2010. Backpacker accommodation had the largest decrease (down 3.3 percent) followed by holiday parks (down 2.1 percent). Of the four accommodation types, hotels had the highest occupancy rate (69 percent) and also the largest share of total guest nights (33 percent).

The Accommodation Survey records guests staying in hotels, motels, backpacker accommodation, and holiday parks in New Zealand each month.

Geoff Bascand 2 May 2011

Government Statistician