Guest nights surge in March

March was a good month for many accommodation providers, with the number of guest nights (after adjusting for seasonal variation) rising 6.7 percent, Statistics New Zealand said today. The rise in March 2013 comes after a 2.4 percent increase in February.

“The increase for March is the largest monthly increase since July 2009,” industry and labour statistics manager Blair Cardno said.

“Great weather, early Easter, and an increase in visitor arrivals all contributed to the high number of guest nights.”

Monthly movements for March 2013 (after removing seasonal variation) were: 

• Domestic guest nights rose 8.7 percent, and international guest nights rose 3.2 percent.
• North Island guest nights rose 6.5 percent, and South Island guest nights rose 6.8 percent.
• Guest nights rose for all accommodation types, particularly holiday parks.

 

The national trend for guest nights has been rising since May 2012. The trend for North Island guest nights has also been rising since May 2012, while the trend for South Island guest nights has been slowly rising since February 2012. Trend movements can change when future months are added to the time series.

The Accommodation Survey records the number of 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: March 2013; for visitor numbers, see International Travel and Migration: March 2013.