Accommodation Survey: July 2011

Total guest nights in short-term accommodation rose 2.0 percent in July 2011 compared with July 2010, Statistics New Zealand said today. May and June 2011 also had small increases in guest nights compared with the same months last year, and all of these increases were driven by North Island guest nights. These rises follow falls in the previous five months.

"Since the earthquakes began in Canterbury, national guest night figures have been mostly down, but in the past three months we've seen some more positive results," industry and labour statistics manager Ken Smart said. "The underlying pattern is still very similar though, with North Island guest nights up, led by domestic visitors, while South Island guest nights are down, driven by international guests."

In the North Island there were 1.4 million guest nights in July 2011, up 9.1 percent from July 2010. The trend for North Island guest nights has been rising for the past year and is at its highest level since the series began in 1996. Auckland (up 17 percent) recorded the largest increase of all regions, as it has for the past year, mainly due to increased domestic guest nights in hotels. Wellington (up 16 percent) also had a significant increase in guest nights.

South Island guest nights decreased for the 12th consecutive month compared with the same month of the previous year. Guest nights numbered 0.9 million in July 2011, down 7.9 percent from July 2010. Canterbury recorded the largest regional decrease (down 20 percent), especially in international guest nights, due to the ongoing impact of the Canterbury earthquakes. Nelson/Marlborough/Tasman was the only South Island region to record an increase.

Two of the four accommodation types had more guest nights in July 2011 than in July 2010. The changes in guest night by accommodation type were:

• motels up 46,000
• holiday parks up 45,000
• hotels down 33,000
• backpacker accommodation down 14,000.

The Accommodation Survey records guests staying in hotels, motels, backpacker accommodation, and holiday parks in New Zealand each month. For more information on monthly accommodation statistics, please see the Accommodation Survey: July 2011.