Otago was the only South Island region where international guest nights increased in May, and Queenstown has been credited.
Statistics New Zealand's Commercial Accommodation Monitor showed a total of 1.9 million international guest nights were recorded for New Zealand in May, down 3.1% on May 2011.
In Queenstown, international guest nights were up 24% to 76,302, accounting for 59.6% of all guest nights in the area in May, while domestic guest nights in the resort increased by 2.7% to 51,662 for the same period.
The resort's statistics bucked the national trend, which saw an overall guest night decline of 0.3%.
Statistics New Zealand industry and labour statistics manager Blair Cardno said there were 2.7% fewer international guest nights across the country, but Otago recorded a 9.5% increase (10,000) "mostly due to people staying in hotels in Queenstown".
Domestically, guest nights fell in the North Island and rose in the South Island. Otago was up 6000 (5.2%).
Destination Queenstown chief executive Graham Budd said the result was pleasing compared with May 2011, when the resort had recorded the fewest May guest nights since 2004. He attributed the growth to hosting international travel trade expo Trenz.
"Hosting Trenz, New Zealand's premier international trade event, for a second year clearly boosted the result and helped our recovery."
