The New Zealand Hotel Council's Queenstown chairwoman, Penny Clark, also general manager of Goldridge Resort, said some hoteliers would be celebrating their survival after the past three years.
Receiverships, new managements and rebranding came and went.
The 19 members of the hotel council in Queenstown have 2580 rooms to fill a night; just 33% of the accommodation capacity in the resort.
More beds came on stream, notably the five-star, 178-room Hilton Queenstown, its neighbouring four-star 98 single-bedroom apartment-style Kawarau Hotel and the 320-bed "flashpackers" Nomads Queenstown Backpackers.
A 54-room, four-storey hotel is being proposed for Henry St, with a 10-year term for construction.
Ms Clark said top-end travellers in traditional markets were still travelling far and wide, while package tourists were now prepared for short-haul destinations, since the recession hit.
The backpacker market appeared to be the most resilient, as young Europeans were travelling while job markets at home were in the doldrums.
The new emerging markets of India and China were likely to make more of an impression from summer, and visitors were expected to spend another one or two nights in Queenstown instead of quake-damaged Christchurch, Ms Clark said.
There was no chance Queenstown could not accommodate Rugby World Cup (RWC) visitors at the same time as snow-sport enthusiasts, she said. The forecast number of 80,000 overseas RWC tourists was not a large number compared with peak-season February and would be spread across New Zealand.
"September could be a bit busy, but we are envisaging in October it will slow down because every rugby supporter will be in the North Island."
Motel Association of New Zealand (Manz) Queenstown branch president Colin Chittock, also manager of Queenstown Gateway Apartments, said occupancy in the past three years had been "swings and roundabouts".
Queenstown moteliers were placed on the map when about 200 owner-operators and members of Manz attended its 38th annual conference and trade expo, in June this year.
Queenstown members of Manz welcomed free and independent travellers more than other markets and were estimated to have a 65% occupancy rate on average. Campervan travellers often checked in as well.
Mr Chittock said he wanted to see New Zealand and Australian school holiday dates stay the same. There had not been many bookings for the RWC as yet, he said.
Rooms to manoeuvre
Queenstown's commercial accommodation monitor by Statistics New Zealand compared the peak summer month of February 2011 with February 2010 and found:
• Guest nights up 5% to 2,516,411.
• Hotels had the largest increase in guest nights, followed by backpackers, while motels had the largest decrease.
• International guest nights up 8% to 1,770,581.
• Domestic guest nights down 1.4% to 745,830.
• Average length of stay up from 2.47 nights to 2.55 nights.
• Overall occupancy rate up from 51.8% to 53.5%.
• Occupancy rate, excluding holiday parks, was 59.9% for the year ended February 2011.
• Accommodation capacity, excluding holiday parks, up 4.8%. Beds are us
• The 19 Queenstown members of the Hotel Council of New Zealand have 2580 rooms to fill each night: 33% of accommodation capacity in the resort.
• In June, 2500 room nights were lost due to the Chilean volcanic ash cloud
• The 30 Queenstown members of the Motel Association of New Zealand run an estimated 30% of accommodation capacity in the resort.
• The newest accommodation providers in the resort are the Hilton Queenstown and Kawarau Hotel managed by Hilton, with 178 rooms and 98 rooms respectively.
• An application has been lodged to construct a 54-room, four-storey hotel at Henry St, Queenstown, with a 10-year construction term sought.
