Rental figures for vehicles signal fans off quick smart

This week has seen some record days for vehicles being picked up by tourists. Photo / Supplied

Vehicle rental bookings for Tourism Holdings are dropping off toward the end of the Rugby World Cup, suggesting fans are not staying on after the tournament.

Grant Webster, chief executive of the NZX-listed tourism operator, whose businesses includes Maui, Britz, Kiwi Experience and the Waitomo Glowworm Caves, said bookings for September looked very strong with only a few small gaps in between games.

"[We're] pretty much booked out," Webster said.

"The start of October's strong but then it fades off as the quarter-finals and semi-finals start because the pattern that we're seeing is people are staying in Auckland, dropping off their van and just using hotel accommodation," he said.

"It doesn't look like at this stage that people are staying around afterwards."

Tourism Holdings had nearly 1500 campervans and about 700 cars and this week had seen some record days for vehicles being picked up by tourists.

"It's quite hard to track exactly where they're going but most people seem to be heading towards wherever their team is to start with."

September was being treated like a shoulder season with pricing slightly higher than normal for this time of year but not at peak levels, Webster said.

"We didn't think September would be quite as strong as what it is so we wanted [pricing] to be something that was still going to attract non-Rugby World Cup visitors as well," he said.

"The reality is in October we were at peak season pricing and there just isn't the number of people around because clearly they've done their travelling and they want to stay put in one place so we've had to make sure that the pricing is appropriate for everyday punters."

Prices for October had been pulled back to shoulder-season levels. Bookings were being dominated by French visitors.

"We thought we'd still get more English than French, we seem to have more French than English," Webster said.

"That has been the surprise of the whole thing."

Tourism Holdings' operating earnings before interest and taxation for the year ended June 30 was down 56.6 per cent at $4.3 million, although the company was forecasting it would bounce back to $17.2 million in the 2012 financial year.

More than $3 million of the lift in earnings would come from the Rugby World Cup, Webster said. "So that's a decent chunk of it," he said. "It's the head start, it's building it into the rest of the year and it's that profile opportunity especially into the UK."

Tourism New Zealand was undertaking significant promotions into the UK during September and October, of which Tourism Holdings was very supportive.

The first full-year from the company's US acquisition, Road Bear, would generate about $4 million of the lift in earnings; the previous year had been impacted by about $1 million of acquisition costs and there would be some underlying business improvements, Webster said.

The company last month said the forecast assumed there would be no significant world events beyond those of the previous 12 months and that the global tourism market was very sensitive to consumer confidence and exchange rate movements.

Shares in Tourism Holdings closed up 1c yesterday at 62c.

TOURISM HOLDINGS
* 1500 campervans and 700 cars.
* Brands include Maui and Britz.
* Nearly booked out for September.
* October fading after quarter-finals.
* World Cup worth more than $3 million.