International guest nights decline in September

New Zealand guest nights (after removing seasonal variation) fell 1.4 percent in September 2012 compared with August 2012, Statistics New Zealand said today. This follows a rise of 2.6 percent in August.

“We had fewer international guest nights, and domestic guest nights were also down slightly,” industry and labour statistics manager Blair Cardno said. “Backpackers were the only accommodation type to have a rise in seasonally adjusted guest nights.”

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

• International guest nights fell 4.7 percent, while domestic guest nights fell 0.3 percent.
• North Island guest nights fell 1.3 percent, while South Island guest nights fell 0.9 percent.
• Backpacker guest nights rose 3.5 percent, while other accommodation types fell.

 

The national trend for guest nights has generally been declining since December 2009. The trend for South Island guest nights is flat for the past year, while the North Island guest nights trend continues to decline from its highest-ever peak in August 2011. 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: September 2012; for visitor numbers, see International Travel and Migration.