Guest nights down in the North, up in the South

Guest nights in short-term commercial accommodation in the North Island were down 3 percent in August 2009 compared with August 2008, Statistics New Zealand said today. Both international and domestic guest nights in the North Island were down (7 percent and 2 percent, respectively). Over the same period, South Island guest nights were up 4 percent, with international guest nights up 6 percent and domestic guest nights up 3 percent.

Seven of the 12 regions experienced an increase in guest nights, with Otago and Canterbury recording the largest increases, while the Auckland region recorded the largest decrease. Otago also recorded the largest increase in international guest nights, while Canterbury had the largest increase in domestic guest nights.
Total guest nights in August 2009 were similar to those recorded in August 2008. Total international and domestic guest nights were also unchanged over the same period.