New Zealand national guest nights rose in October from a year earlier as demand was bolstered by good weather and a longer ski season.
Total guest nights gained 4.8% to 3.15 million in October from the same month a year earlier, Statistics New Zealand said. Guest nights in the North Island rose 2.5% while South Island guest nights climbed 8.4%.
Of that, domestic guest nights rose 9.5% in the South Island, while international guest nights advanced 7.4%. In the North Island, domestic guest nights rose 2.3% and international guest nights rose 2.9%.
New Zealand has been experiencing record levels of tourism in recent years, putting a strain on the accompanying infrastructure which has often struggled to keep up with demand.
Eleven of the country's 12 regional areas reported more guest nights in October, with Taranaki, Manawatu and Wanganui up 15% and Southland up 20%.
More than half the national increase came from Canterbury, Otago, and the Bay of Plenty, where guest nights rose 7.5%, 7.3% and 9.2% respectively.
"The strong growth in Canterbury was driven by more guest nights spent in hotels and backpackers than in October last year. In Otago, motel and hotel guest nights increased the most, boosted by tourist hot spots Wanaka and Queenstown. The growth in the Bay of Plenty was driven by increases in motel and holiday park guest nights," accommodation statistics manager Melissa McKenzie said.
The only exception was Auckland, typically the first port of call for international visitors, where guest nights declined 6.3% in October from a year earlier.
Hotel guest nights rose 1.2% from October last year to 1.15 million, while motel nights rose 4.6% to 1.04 million and backpacker stays rose 1.5% to 408,000. Holiday park nights jumped 16% to 545,000.
The hotel occupancy rate edged up 0.3 percentage points to 68.2%, while the holiday park rate rose 1.9% to 16.3 and the backpacker rate advanced 0.5 percentage points to 41.0%. Meanwhile, the motel rate slipped 0.8 percentage points to 58.2%.
