More on state of region’s economy

A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.

Opinion

The Infometrics economic monitor for the region that is commissioned by Trust Tairāwhiti contains useful insights on economic, labour market, housing and social indicators. The December 2023 quarterly monitor was released last week, with the trust’s takeaways from it reported in Tuesday’s paper, and coverage from the monitor’s overview and economic indicators in Wednesday’s editorial.

This editorial and two to follow will continue delving into it, as the numbers are revealing and provide a 12-month snapshot of what was a difficult year for the region — during which our economy contracted by 1.8 percent, according to provisional estimates.

Tourism expenditure here decreased by 1.9 percent in 2023 compared with 2022. Nationally, tourism expenditure was up 9.2 percent — reflecting the ongoing recovery of international visitor arrivals post-pandemic.

“However, the gloss is coming off this recovery as arrivals from key markets such as Australia and China stagnate. Compounding this, domestic tourism spending is starting to pull back, reflecting some households tightening their belts, and others considering overseas holiday options.”

Total expenditure here by tourists in 2023 was approximately $152m, down from $155m in 2022. Total guest nights here decreased 9.7 percent compared with 2022, while nationally there was a 26.6 percent increase in guest nights.

Nationwide, “International guest nights in the December 2023 quarter were 41 percent higher than the December 2022 quarter, more than offsetting an 8 percent fall in domestic guest nights.”

Non-residential building consents to the value of $57.4 million were issued in Tairāwhiti last year — a decrease of 33.7 percent compared with 2022, but well ahead of the 10-year annual average of $41m. (Nationally the value of non-residential consents decreased 1 percent; adjusting for inflation, the $2.1bn consented across New Zealand in the December 2023 quarter was the lowest level since 2017 — excluding the 2020 lockdown.)

“Private sector caution, combined with more narrowly focused government spending, will continue to put downward pressure on non-residential consents over the first half of 2024. However, gradual reductions in interest rates and improving business confidence should help consents to stabilise thereafter.”

Car registrations were down 7.4 percent last year compared with 2022 (nationally it was a decline of 0.6 percent); the 1163 cars registered here in 2023 was also down 8.2 percent from the 10-year average of 1267 cars.

Commercial vehicle registrations were down 11.7 percent to 512 here in 2023 (the 10-year annual average is 569) — a smaller decline than the 20.5 percent fall recorded nationwide.

There was a surge in electric vehicle registrations, from a low base — with 92 EVs registered here in 2023, up from 22 in 2022 and 14 in 2021. (Nationally nearly 26,000 EVs were registered last year, up 33 percent from 2022.)