Spend

Tourism in the Manawatū region remains strong despite a sharp drop in international guest nights in February, according to the region’s economists who point to rising spend and strong domestic demand.

Half of the country’s RTOs showed either zero growth or falls in visitor spending for the month of February 2019, according to the latest Monthly Regional Tourism Estimates.

More than a third of RTOs across NZ showed flat visitor spending growth or worse in January.

International visitor spend grew to $11.16bn last year despite falling or flat growth from most of NZ’s major markets.

The call comes as the proportion of tourist spending on activities drops.

More than half of the country’s RTO regions saw visitor spending fall or zero growth in December compared to the same month in 2017, according to the Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment.

Destination Wairarapa topped the table of regional tourism organisation visitor spend growth for November 2018 with a 16% uplift to $16m compared with the same month last year.

Wellington has seen visitor spending figures for October drop after a revision was undertaken by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment.

Strong domestic demand and growth in international visitor numbers are behind the increase, says Stats NZ.

The country’s newest regional tourism organisation, Aoraki Tourism, topped visitor spending growth for October 2018 compared to the same month last year, excluding Destination Kaikoura’s recovery-skewed returned.

Marketview’s analysis of tourist spending is not comfortable reading for those trying to drive the industry up the value curve. 

Destination Kaikoura continues to report strong visitor spend growth in the wake of November 2016’s earthquake with spend captured by the RTO up 63% to $6m for September compared to the same month last year.

Tourists spend more on average per day in NZ, says TNZ’s CEO.

Tourism New Zealand’s Insights team took a close look at figures recently published by the United Nations World Tourism Organization.

The region continued to lead visitor spending with yearly growth to July up 17% to $160m.

Regional spend grew over the year to June despite a drop in international expenditure, says MBIE.

The Nelson Regional Development Agency reported a 38% increase in international tourism spend in May reaching $42m compared to the same month last year.

Spending in New Zealand by international Visa cardholders grew to $3.4bn last year, up 15% on 2016, according to the credit card company.

As visitor numbers close in on four million, BERL senior economist Mark Cox takes a look at why average visitor spend fell last year and the important factors driving that expenditure.

Events helped push Gisborne to the top of the latest Monthly Regional Tourism Estimates with the region reporting a 40% increase in spending to $16m for March this year compared to the same month in 2017.

The world’s top 25 source markets all reported higher expenditure on international tourism in 2017 with China consolidating its leading position spending US$258bn, up 5% on 2016, according to the UNWTO.

Consumer spending across the restaurant, cafe, bar and nightclub sector grew by 15% over the past two years, according to a report from ANZ Bank.

Tourism spending grew in all regions over the past year to February 2018 with Canterbury and the West Coast regions showing the largest increases with monthly returns boosted by Chinese New Year.

Spending was subdued across most of the six retail industries including hospitality.

Gisborne and Marlborough showed the strongest month-on-month spending growth in January lifting 15% to $21m and 13% to $60m respectively