Does Auckland have enough hotel rooms to cater for the 2021 America's Cup?

Emirates Team New Zealand, right, leads Oracle Team USA. Photo / AP

Auckland could face a hotel room shortage issue during the 2021 America's Cup event, despite plans to construct more than 3000 additional rooms.

A total of 3195 hotel rooms are planned to be built by 2021 but it is likely only 2580 would be constructed in time, according to a report by CBRE.

"On this basis demand is likely to exceed supply during peak times, however, it's still felt the current pipeline of hotel stock should be sufficient to cater, with some additional capacity required during these periods," said Peter Hamilton, CBRE New Zealand director of hotels and leisure.

Hamilton said he expected the residential apartment market to cater to the additional capacity needed, through the likes of Airbnb and BookaBach.

The report found that previous America's Cup events held in 2000 and 2003 drove up hotel occupancy rates which continued even after the events had finished.

During the 2003 event, there were an extra 42,560 domestic visitors to Auckland, recorded in the Domestic Visitor Survey, and an additional 214,569 room nights sold during the event to both local and international visitors.

Based on occupancy figures from the last regatta, CBRE predicted hotel room demand for the upcoming event would increase by 5-7 per cent a year over the next three years as the tourism market grew - or 25 per cent in total under a high scenario estimate.

It expected February and March to be peak months for demand in 2021.

The report outlined that there would likely be a significant increase in room rates during that period.