Rugby World Cup impacts on guest nights

Guest nights for international visitors jumped 21 percent in September 2011, Statistics New Zealand said today. However, this increase was almost fully offset by a fall of 12 percent in domestic guest nights, giving a total rise of just 0.3 percent compared with September 2010.

“The Rugby World Cup boosted international guest nights throughout most of the country in September,” industry and labour statistics manager Ken Smart said. “However, domestic guest nights tell a different story, and were down in nearly every region. These are likely to have been affected by both the shifting of school holidays into October and the World Cup."

International guest nights were higher in 10 of the 12 regions in September 2011 (compared with September 2010), particularly in Auckland, Wellington, and Waikato. With 25 of the 33 scheduled World Cup games in September being held in the North Island, this half of the country saw a huge 50 percent rise in international guest nights. However, as mentioned above, domestic guest nights were down in nearly every region, with Southland the only one to show an increase.

When international and domestic figures are combined, Canterbury continues to show the largest fall. To put this in context, the combined increases seen in Auckland, Wellington, and Waikato were not enough to offset the fall in Canterbury. Christchurch, in particular, lost much accommodation capacity because of the Canterbury earthquakes. With its main stadium damaged, it did not host any World Cup games.

The Accommodation Survey records guests staying in hotels, motels, backpacker accommodation, and holiday parks in New Zealand each month. The survey does not include visitors staying on cruise ships, in private dwellings, or at temporary campervan parks (such as the Westhaven Marina).

For more information on monthly accommodation statistics, see the Accommodation Survey: September 2011; for visitor numbers, see International Travel and Migration.