Short-term guest nights up 7 per cent

Photo / The Daily Post

The number of guest nights spent in short-term commercial accommodation rose 7 per cent in June from the year before, to 1.7 million.

The Bay of Plenty recorded the largest regional rise, lifting 35,000 or 24 per cent after having its worst June month since 2000 last year, Statistics New Zealand (SNZ) said yesterday. In both Otago and Auckland guest nights were up 23,000, while the only regions with falls were West Coast and Nelson/Marlborough/Tasman, both down 3000.

Domestic guest nights were up 9 per cent to 1.1 million, with Bay of Plenty up 22,000 or 22 per cent, Auckland up 19,000 or 10 per cent, and Canterbury up 14,000 or 10 per cent.

International guest nights rose 4 per cent to 600,000 from a year ago but were still down 4 per cent on June 2008, SNZ said.

In Bay of Plenty international guest nights rose 13,000 or 29 per cent, Otago was up 12,000 or 11 per cent, and Auckland gained 4000 or 3 per cent. Wellington was down 7000 or 15 per cent.

All four accommodation types had more guest nights than in June 2009, with hotels up 58,000 or 9 per cent, motels up 28,000 or 5 per cent, holiday parks up 23,000 or 14 per cent, and backpackers up 3000 or 1 per cent.

- NZPA