Spend

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.

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.

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

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%.

Spending on hotels, motels, campgrounds, and other accommodation fell to $133.4m in September 2020, down 29% on the same month last year.

A booming pre-Covid cruise market saw cruise ship expenditure drop by just 3.2% in the year ending June 2020, despite the season being cut short by the global coronavirus pandemic.

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.

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

Spending on accommodation services was down 44%, or $418m in the June 2020 quarter.

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

More was spent on food and beverage but less on accommodation despite the school holidays.

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

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.

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.

Spending on eating out and on hotels, motels, and other accommodation fell 41%, or $428m, in May, according to new figures from Stats NZ.

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.

Dairy receipts have overtaken tourism spending as New Zealand’s top goods export in the March 2020 year, says Stats NZ.

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.

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

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.

New Zealanders are spending more on accommodation overseas, according to Statistics NZ.

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

Christchurch saw an overall spending increase of 2% for January to $454m, according to MarketView.

The Wellington region saw the biggest increase in visitor spending in 2019, according to the latest Monthly Regional Tourism Estimates.

The Destination Wairarapa area saw strong growth in visitor spending despite a damp Toast Martinborough.

Hospitality spend grew by 1.8% to $59m in the last quarter of 2019, according to StatsNZ.

The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment is calling for registrations of interest for two of its tourism spending datasets.

The Tourism Bay of Plenty and Visit Whanganui areas led month-on-month spending growth for September 2019, according to the latest Monthly Regional Tourism Estimates.

Airbnb guests are expected to spend $343m in NZ restaurants and cafes in 2019, according to the home-sharing platform.

Auckland and Queenstown are the top ranked New Zealand destinations for international travellers, Mastercard’s annual Asia Pacific Destinations Index has revealed.

Visit Whanganui and Tourism Bay of Plenty shared first place in the latest Monthly Regional Tourism Estimates, both posting spending growth of 10% in September.

Winter visitor spending in Hawke’s Bay for the June to August period reached a record $127m, up 7% on the same period last year, according to the latest Monthly Regional Tourism Estimates.

Some of the country’s leading snow destinations suffered spending slowdowns for the second month in a row.

Visitor spending in some of NZ’s snow regions fell sharply after unusually mild weather.