Accommodation stats up 3pc in March

International visitors spent 1.6 million guest nights in commercial accommodation during March - up 42,000 or three per cent from a year earlier, figures out today reveal.

The data from Statistics New Zealand also showed a two per cent jump in domestic guest nights, from the same time last year, with Taranaki/Manawatu (up nine per cent) and the Bay of Plenty (up six per cent) recording the biggest increases.

The West Coast had the largest decrease of four per cent.

Hotels were the biggest contributor to guest nights, with overnight stays up five per cent on March 2009 figures, causing a two per cent lift in total guest nights for March.

Hotels had the highest occupancy rate of the four accommodation types included in the survey.

The number of overnight stays in hotels was the third highest on record, after February and March 2008.

Holiday parks and motels also had more guest nights in March 2010 compared with the same month last year, up 3 per cent and 1 per cent respectively.

Meanwhile guest nights in backpackers fell 1 per cent.