Spend

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

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.

June spending by visitors to Hawke’s Bay grew at double the national average, according to the latest Monthly Regional Tourism Estimates.

Tourism Bay of Plenty led month-on-month visitor spending growth for regional tourism organisations in June 2019, increasing 13% on the same month last year to reach $77m, according to the latest Monthly Regional Tourism Estimates. 

Monthly tourism spend growth has slowed across the country with the top ranking Regional Tourism Organisation delivering 18% growth in May, down from a top figure of 26% last month, and more RTO’s delivering no or negative growth.

The two RTO areas saw strong visitor spend for the month of April, according to MBIE’s latest data.

Spend on accommodation fell 4.7% in the three months to March 2019, offsetting overall retail spend growth in the summer quarter according to Stats NZ.

Spending on credit and debit cards rebounded in April as people took advantage of the extended holiday period to travel and eat out more, however, rising petrol prices look set to erode future core spending.

Visitor spend in the Hamilton & Waikato region topped the $1.5bn mark in the last calendar year, with the region also securing a 10.4% market share of the lucrative conventions, meetings and business events market, according to an update to Hamilton City Council.

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.