RWC Spending Update

**A full wrap up of September’s spending activity will be released early next week and will include further sector breakdowns.

Foreign card spending through the Paymark network

Foreign card spending continued to climb last week, being up 37% (to $39.5m) on the same week last year, as against up 34% (to $35.7m) the previous week.

All cards – total spending through Paymark network excluding fuel

The total (ex fuel) spending growth rate slowed last week to 2.7 per cent (from 4.4 per cent in the previous week and 4.4 per cent in the first 10 days) – the extent of the apparent slowdown due to relatively high spending during the same week last year prior to the 1-Oct GST rate hike

Likewise, the combined car rental, hospitality and accommodation sectors (RWC3) experienced annual growth of 7.9 per cent (previous week 10.6 per cent)

The hospitality sector

Hospitality spending – i.e. at cafes, restaurants, bars and clubs – has been high around the All Blacks games, partly due to the games falling during weekend evenings but also due to extra spending before and after the game.

Spending at hospitality merchants on Saturday 24th September was 7 per cent higher (+$458,000) than last year between noon and 8pm (the 8 full hours before the game) and 18 per cent higher (+$386,000) in the 8 hours after 10pm. In the two hours between, spending was 5 per cent below year-ago levels (-$129,000).

 

Accommodation

Payment last week at accommodation merchants linked to Paymark was up strongly on last year in Wanganui (+34 per cent) and Hawkes Bay (+24 per cent) but was below year ago levels in Auckland/Northland (-2 per cent) and Wellington (-11 per cent).

**Note any prepayments for accommodation will not show in these weekly statistics.

 

Other sectors

Growth outside the accommodation, hospitality and rental cars remains low. For example, spending on the latest Friday to Saturday at department stores was only 1.0 per cent above year-ago levels, while clothing stores were only up 3.2 per cent and bookstores were down 17.5 per cent – all annual growth rates similar to those experienced in August (before the RWC).

 

Regional Totals

	Total spending excluding Fuel through Paymark
	Week ending 25-Sep-11 versus same days 2010
		Volume (000s transactions)			Value of spending ($000s)
	Region	Last Year	Current Year	Volume Difference	Last Year	Current Year	Value Difference
	Auckland/Northland	5,821	6,215	6.8%	288,944	301,575	4.4%
	Waikato	1,008	1,089	8.1%	46,915	50,099	6.8%
	BOP	858	924	7.7%	41,932	43,855	4.6%
	Gisborne	120	127	6.3%	5,251	5,351	1.9%
	Taranaki/Taupo	333	341	2.5%	15,332	15,536	1.3%
	Hawkes Bay	395	419	6.1%	18,888	19,623	3.9%
	Wanganui	168	182	8.3%	7,165	7,702	7.5%
	Palmerston North	462	491	6.3%	23,018	23,832	3.5%
	Wairarapa	134	140	4.2%	6,243	6,196	-0.8%
	Wellington	1,706	1,735	1.7%	77,882	76,616	-1.6%
	Nelson	249	275	10.4%	12,548	13,232	5.4%
	Marlborough	159	157	-1.4%	7,892	7,576	-4.0%
	West Coast	89	89	-0.4%	4,723	4,779	1.2%
	Canterbury	1,728	1,657	-4.1%	84,822	80,137	-5.5%
	South Canterbury	200	216	8.0%	10,737	11,464	6.8%
	Otago	802	871	8.7%	37,191	39,701	6.7%
	Southland	302	329	9.0%	15,407	16,495	7.1%
	New Zealand	14,639	15,379	5.1%	710,252	729,657	2.7%