Gisborne led rise in June spending

ALL ON LIKE DONKEY KONG: The We Wrestle event at Showgrounds Park Events Centre was one of the great attractions in Gisborne last month. Picture by Liam Clayton

A STRING of attractions — bull sales, wrestling, Scottish dancing and dog agility events — last month seems to have done more for accommodation providers in Gisborne than All Blacks test matches did for counterparts in Wellington, Auckland and Dunedin.

Paymark figures released today show an underlying 13 percent rise in the value of electronic transactions seen in Gisborne last month was the biggest rise in electronic card transactions nationwide.

Only Bay of Plenty, with an 11.5 percent rise, saw a similar increase in value on the same month last year.

Paymark processed almost 900,000 transactions in Gisborne, accounting for $38.1 million.

A successfulo Bull Week contributed, with healthy sales of Angus and Hereford bulls adding to Gisborne's bottom line. Around 100 buyers came to Gisborne from around the country and more than $3.6m changed hands as the bulls changed owners.

Gisborne also experienced a 12.4 percent increase in the number of transactions in June, compared to the same month last year.

A Paymark spokesman said the spending effect of the All Blacks-Wales tests was mixed in the three regions that hosted matches.

“In Auckland/Northland, there was an increase in spending among those merchant sectors typically associated with major events – for example, accommodation and hospitality providers. But there was also lower spending among competing merchants — for example, movies theatres and art galleries. On balance, there was little net discernible effect of the first test on overall spending among these merchants.

“In Wellington, a similar partial offset occurred between the event-sensitive merchants, but overall the net spending effect was around an extra $0.9 million — a spending lift of 3.1 percent for Wellington. A similar effect occurred in Otago, with the net spending increase of around $1.2 million, which translates into a larger percentage increase of 6.7 percent.”

Increase in accommodation spendingThe rise in spending for Gisborne was down to an increase in spending in the accommodation sector, he said.

“With Queen’s Birthday weekend falling fully in June this year, there was a noted increase in accommodation spending. This was one factor behind the strong underlying spending annual growth recorded in Gisborne, Bay of Plenty, Hawke’s Bay and Otago.”

Gisborne Go-2 Guide listed a total of 30 events happening in the district last month, including the annual Braemar Dancing Competition, along with the home-grown We Wrestle event that attracted a crowd of 1600. The Gisborne Dog Training Club annual dog obedience and agility event, over Queen’s Birthday Weekend, attracted about 65 handlers from outside the region.

Tourism Eastland chief executive Stuart Perry said it was encouraging to see the visitor industry contributing so well to the economy, outside the peak tourism season.

“I have spoken to accommodation operators in the region who indicate that for some, Queen’s Birthday weekend had ‘been a ripper’ and were not surprised that the Paymark figures were so high.

“A number of our Tourism Eastland members have had a very successful year and, while this is the low season, they are still beating last year’s figures.

“From a visitor industry perspective, we are delighted to see this filter through to other business sectors and when you see a $38.1 million spend in the region, that’s got to be good for everyone.”