RWC has influence on visitor numbers

Queenstown's loss appears to be Dunedin's gain as Rugby World Cup fans gear up for the South Island's opening match at the Otago Stadium on Saturday.

Although Queenstown is the chosen host for the English, Irish, Romanian and Georgian rugby teams, their fans remain to be seen, with bookings for accommodation below those at this time last year.

The resort has yet to reap the benefit of the country's biggest international sporting event, with reservations down 30% on last year's September-October figures, while Dunedin's bookings are at a premium.

By last weekend, camping grounds and backpackers in Dunedin were almost booked out for the first and last games in the city, and other accommodation was "very tight" for the month.

New Zealand Hotel Council Queenstown Lakes District regional chairwoman Penny Clark has little doubt about the reasons for the fall-off in visitors to the resort.

"The normal visitors in October have been displaced because of the Christchurch earthquake as well as the Rugby World Cup," she said.

With the last Dunedin pool match to be played on October 2, those who had come for the tournament were expected to desert the South Island for the quarterfinals, semifinals and the final, most of which are played in Auckland, leaving Queenstown off the radar, Ms Clark said.

"I suspect most hotel operators will be battening down the hatches because thingsare going to be quieter than usual."

Specialist in tailormade holidays Sport Abroad has taken a hit with bookings during the tournament around the country, in particular in Queenstown.

Product manager Jonothan Griffiths said, overall, the company was looking at an $80,000 shortfall - $50,000 of that directly from the lack of reservations made for Queenstown.

It had 27 spare rooms spread across three Queenstown hotels, The Millennium, The Heritage and Copthorne, and the company was contemplating "giving them away free", Mr Griffiths saidCancellations for Queenstown had been high since Christchurch was pulled out as one of the host cities after February's earthquake.

Novotel Queenstown's general manager Jim Moore said business was notably quieter than last year.

"Certainly, where there are games, those places are busier than us," he said.

The backpacker and middle-range accommodation market in the resort has not felt the same impact from the RWC, with Reavers Lodge operations manager Todd Schmidt satisfied with September and October bookings.

"We've seen no positive or negative aspects of the cup, so far."

Mr Schmidt said Queenstown would most likely benefit during the tournament because those who traditionally visited the resort had not come for the rugby and would be able to escape the "World Cup fever" the rest of the country had caught.

"I wouldn't say our visitors aren't coming to Queenstown because of rugby. You can get away from rugby here, because Queenstown has more to offer."

He predicted rugby fans, particularly those from the northern hemisphere, would stop over in Queenstown for five-day holidays after the tournament.

olivia.caldwell@odt.co.nz