Shortage of hotel rooms the most pressing problem for NZ tourist sector - Deloitte study

A new study has found the pressure points for tourism. Photo / Getty Images

More visitor accommodation is the highest priority infrastructure needed to support the future growth of New Zealand's booming tourism industry, research out today finds.

At peak times there is little commercial accommodation in Auckland and Queenstown and those rooms that are available are expensive.

A report by Deloitte for Tourism Industry Aotearoa (TIA) finds that development of new accommodation would generate more tourism for New Zealand than any other category of infrastructure.

Government figures last year revealed if demand and supply estimates are borne out, the shortfall in new hotel rooms is expected to be up to 4526 across the country.

TIA says the other priority infrastructure types identified are telecommunications, airport facilities, road transport, car parking, toilets, and water and sewerage systems.

TIA chief executive Chris Roberts said the accommodation shortfall was expected to be a top concern but he was surprised that telecommunications issues figured.

"I was a bit surprised how strongly telecoms came through. Visitors expect to be connected their whole journey but we have a lot of places in New Zealand where there is no connection."

Regions where telecommunications is a top issue include Waikato, Coromandel, West Coast, Northland and the Bay of Plenty.

Crown Fibre Holdings had committed to install equipment at tourism hotspots such as Cape Reinga, Waitomo and entry points to National Parks where tourists wanted access to the internet.

Roberts said the assessment found the tourism industry would need to work closely with central and local government to achieve the required development to close infrastructure gaps as market forces alone are unlikely to be sufficient.

"We need smart and active interventions to ensure tourism growth is sustainable, that the industry keeps growing its contribution to New Zealand's economy and reaches its Tourism 2025 goal of $41 billion annual revenue," he said.

In the past year visitor numbers grew 11 per cent to 3.54 million.

The report says that while developers were likely to increase accommodation supply in metropolitan areas to capture the surplus demand without government intervention, more co-ordination is required for regional areas.

Visitor accommodation is the second most raised issue (behind worker accommodation), and has been identified in 19 regions. The most acute gaps are in Auckland, Queenstown-Wanaka, Wellington, Canterbury and Dunedin.

"The tourism boom is putting pressure on some of our most popular destinations," said Roberts.

"We need to address this as a country, otherwise we won't be able to keep growing, the visitor experience could suffer and we'll lose community support for tourism."

The results of the work would be provided to the government, which has allocated $17.5m to mid-size tourism facilities in four years.

Roberts said the Deloitte study supported the case for a "substantial" infrastructure fund to support local projects.

"Done well, this fund can address much of the concern for these local and mixed use infrastructure types."

At a regional level, each region has a different pattern of priorities depending on local circumstances.