Rugby World Cup lifts international guest nights

Guest nights for international visitors rose 7.1 percent in October 2011, Statistics New Zealand said today. However, this increase was offset by a 6.5 percent fall in domestic guest nights, resulting in an overall fall of 1.5 percent in total guest nights compared with October 2010.

"The Rugby World Cup lifted international guest nights in October, particularly in the North Island,” industry and labour statistics manager Louise Holmes-Oliver said. “However, domestic guest nights were down in nearly every region. This continues what was seen in September 2011, with increasing international and decreasing domestic guest nights."

International guest nights were higher in nine of the 12 regions in October 2011 (compared with October 2010), particularly in Auckland, Wellington, and Waikato. With 13 of the 15 World Cup games in October being held in the North Island, this half of the country saw a 24 percent rise in international guest nights.

As mentioned above, domestic guest nights were down in nearly every region, except in Nelson/Marlborough/Tasman and Otago. This decrease in domestic guest nights occurred despite one week of the school holidays being shifted to October from September, to align with the final stages of the Rugby World Cup.

Canterbury continued to show the largest regional fall in guest nights. To put this in context, the combined increases for Auckland, Nelson/Marlborough/Tasman, and Wellington (which had the largest increases of all regions) were more than offset by 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: October 2011; for visitor numbers, see International Travel and Migration.