Spending

Visitor spend fell 11% to $1.25bn in January 2021 compared to the same month a year ago as the gap left by absent international tourists proved too large to plug for domestics.

Spending on international sea and air transportation services has risen steadily from the Covid-affected low in the June 2020 quarter, says Stats NZ.

Spending on accommodation in the December 2020 quarter fell to $967.91m, down 18% compared to the corresponding period a year earlier.

Four RTOs took in more tourism dollars in 2020 compared with a year earlier despite an absence of international visitors for the most of the period, according to MBIE.

Queenstown tops Expedia’s list of top searched destinations for a 2021 holiday.

The Monthly Regional Tourism Estimates have been suspended because of the impact Covid-19 has had on the dataset’s methodology.

Australia’s bigger budget destination marketers will compete fiercely for Kiwis.

Stats NZ domestic card spending data for December reveals a sluggish start to summer for the accommodation sector.

The latest TSA highlights the sector’s ability to generate income and provide employment.

Spending at accommodation merchants through the Paymark network fell by 30% in 2020 compared to the previous year, according to the electronic card payments processor.

Visitor spend for the September 2020 quarter fell to $1.47bn, down from $2.88bn for the same period last year, according to new government data.

Spending by overseas visitors and students within New Zealand fell by half to $1.5bn in the September 2020 quarter, compared with the same period last year, says Stats NZ.

This will continue to have a severe impact on New Zealand services exports, primarily tourism and international education.

Tourism is facing nearly $13bn in lost spending due to the border closures.

Spending on travel agency and other tour arrangement services was down $128m, or 86%, compared to October 2019.

Despite the challenges, Northland saw visitor spend for the month jump 30% to $84m.

This compared with national growth of 3.4%, with all other regions seeing a rise in revenue including Northland up 10.7%, Canterbury up 7.1%, Wellingtonupt 5.4%, and Waikato up 3.7%.

CEO Stephen England-Hall says the sector is heading for “a pretty compelling summer”.

Tourism New Zealand is forecasting a bumper domestic summer season but slates 2024 for a full recovery in international demand, according to its latest scenerio modelling of the future tourism recovery.

Visitor spending in the Hawke’s Bay topped any other region during August.

Auckland’s second coronavirus lockdown dealt a further blow to the gateway city’s tourism economy already suffering from a lack of international visitors, with a 61% drop in tourist takings recorded in August.

March, April and May were “catastrophic” for the sector, says TIA.

Spending on travel and tourism services suffered in August 2020 due to Covid-19 alert level 3 restrictions in Auckland and alert level 2 for the rest of New Zealand, says Stats NZ.

Visitors spent $12.6m in Whanganui during July, which was more akin to spending over summer holidays than a typical winter month.

New Zealanders hitting the road in the July school holidays delivered a huge spending boost for many smaller regions across the country, while key destinations including Auckland, Wellington and Queenstown continued to suffer from a lack of international spend.

Tourism businesses are suffering large financial hits while the Covid-19 alert level 3 for Auckland continues, says Tourism Industry Aotearoa.

July 2020 was the second full month of relatively normal “business as usual” since the initial Covid-19 lockdown earlier this year, says Marketview.

June 2020 was the strongest June on record for Whanganui despite the impact of Covid-19, according Whanganui & Partners.

A shift to alert level 1 in June was not enough to offset a lack of international dollars being spent in many regions across the country, according to the latest Monthly Regional Tourism Estimates.

Nationwide spend across the accommodation sector through Paymark in July 2020 was 10.9% below the same month last year.

The region saw visitor spend jump by almost two-thirds in the two weeks to 19 July, compared to the same corresponding period in 2019.

Three South Island regions were the hardest hit by stifled tourism spend during the three-month peak of New Zealand’s Covid-19 crisis, according to TIA analysis of the Monthly Regional Tourism Estimates.

June 2020 was the first full month where retail spending was back to ‘normal’ following the more restrictive lockdown phases, says Marketview.

Whanganui hospitality and accommodation businesses have seen significant consumer spending growth following the Covid-19 alert level 4 lockdown, says Whanganui & Partners.

Hospitality spending on accommodation and food and beverage bounced back in June.

Domestic tourism spend rebounded to $827m in May 2020, up from $177m in April, according to the latest Monthly Regional Tourism Estimates.

Half of the country’s RTO areas suffered visitor spending falls of 90% or more in April 2020, the first full month of lockdown.

Total spend for the March 2020 year increased 2% to $11.47bn.

Stats NZ is preparing to launch the regular research series into the sector’s greenhouse gas emissions.

Kiwis holidaying at home could inject billions into NZ tourism – which region will benefit the most?

Travel agency and tour arrangement services spending fell to negative numbers for the first time since Stats NZ began collecting the data, says the department.

Tourism spend fell across the board in March as travel was reduced to a trickle when New Zealand transitioned to a level 4 lockdown on 26 March, according to the latest Monthly Regional Tourism Estimates.

Domestic holidays, road trips and flights are on Kiwis’ post-Covid-19 lockdown wishlist, according to new research.

Card spending on travel agency and tour services has nosedived to the biggest fall on record.

The Monthly Regional Tourism Estimates will not be published next week, says MBIE.

Hospitality and accommodation in Christchurch was hardest hit with an 82% decline in spending in the week ended March 29 compared with the same week a year ago.

The Mackenzie Region led a total of seven Regional Tourism Organisations that posted double-digit spending growth in January, according to the latest Monthly Regional Tourism Estimates.

Spending with China-issued credit cards was down 39.3% in February from a year earlier, says Paymark.

International visitors from the United States have once again led spending growth, with a 29% leap in the year ended December 2019, according to the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment.

The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment has delayed the release of January’s Monthly Regional Tourism Estimates.