West Coast's Franz Josef Glacier Showing no Decline in Visitor Numbers for Summer

According to Franz Josef accommodation providers, the recession has failed to have a negative impact on their visitor stay numbers, especially as they head into the busy summer season.

Manager of luxury accommodation provider, Westwood Lodge, Kaz Gilmore, says her forward bookings are up on last year, with an extra 10 nights of bookings for December over the same time last year. But she has noticed some changes.

“People are still travelling but they are being more cautious with their money, and they seem to be leaving the process of making bookings to the last minute.

“Because Westwood Lodge is priced towards the top end of the market, we are not seeing a lot of negative impact from the high New Zealand dollar against the US dollar, but we are seeing an increase in European travellers, particularly from Spain and France, which is an interesting development.

“It seems that New Zealand’s West Coast Glacier Country has ‘shown up on the radar’ for some of the European countries – which is great from our perspective, as they like to travel during our winter months.”
Ms Gilmore attributes the increase in bookings over the same time in 2008 largely to the success of Westwood lodge’s web presence, in conjunction with strong wholesale bookings.

“Across winter we benefited from many people who had pre-booked their holidays before the economy worsened, and decided to come on their trip anyway. Over the last month we have seen many people try and book accommodation for January and February with only a few weeks notice, which is unheard of over here at this time of year. And what they are finding is that there are very few bed nights available.
“We have been putting the occasional spare bed night up on the Wotif.com site to pick up those last minute bookings.”

Gilmore commented that she now has bookings for winter 2010 already, which is also unusual in comparison with past years.

Glenfern Villas owner operator, Marcel Fekke has a similar perspective.

“We are busy right through to the end of April with at least 30% of our bookings coming from online sources as well as wholesalers and more traditional booking agents.

“Not only has the recession not had a negative impact on us, 2009 was our best year to date in six years trading, even through the winter months.”

“We are seeing a shorter lead time for bookings, as travellers are wanting more flexibility and often waiting to make bookings until they get cheaper deals on flights etc.

He has seen good number of Europeans also, but mostly Dutch and German guests, as well as visitors from the US and the UK.

Fekke says Tourism NZ’s push into Australia in 2009 has also paid off.

“We have had lot of Australians staying with us, all through the winter months, so I think the marketing efforts in Australia have really paid off.”

Nearby Punga Grove motels in the heart of Franz Josef township have also been reaping the benefits of international marketing.

Manager Marie Goodall says the business has seen an increase in European, Australian and English Guests, and a slight decrease in NZ guests.

“Booking times for guests have become very short, sometimes just weeks out instead of months, which is highly unusual for Franz over the summer months, given the limited amount of availability in the area.

“Our direct online bookings from our website are up, FIT wholesale bookings are much the same, but our group wholesale bookings are down.”

Goodall says that despite the harsh economic climate the occupancy numbers are consistent with last year, and the business has definitely not seen a negative impact overall.