South Island guest nights drop in November

South Island guest nights (after removing seasonal variation) fell 6.8 percent in November 2012 compared with October 2012, Statistics New Zealand said today. This follows a rise of 4.7 percent in October.

“New Zealand guest nights were down in November, driven by a decrease in South Island guest nights,” industry and labour statistics manager Blair Cardno said.

Monthly movements for November 2012 (after removing seasonal variation) were:

• New Zealand guest nights fell 2.7 percent, following a rise of 4.1 percent in October.
• International guest nights fell 3.0 percent, and domestic guest nights fell 1.5 percent.
• North Island guest nights rose 0.4 percent, and South Island guest nights fell 6.8 percent. 
• Guest nights for all accommodation types fell.

The national trend for guest nights has been rising since April 2012. The trend for South Island guest nights has been flat for more than a year, while the North Island guest nights trend has been slowly rising for the past six months. Trend movements can change when future months are added to the time series.

The Accommodation Survey records guests staying in hotels, motels, backpacker accommodation, and holiday parks in New Zealand each month.

For more information on monthly accommodation statistics, see the Accommodation Survey: November 2012; for visitor numbers, see International Travel and Migration: November 2012.