Holiday season spending reaches record levels

Holiday spending is at a record high

Northland shoppers have splashed out big during the past few weeks, celebrating Christmas and New Year in style.

According to the latest Paymark statistics, Auckland and Northland residents spent $2.12 billion in December 2014 - a 5.9 per cent increase on 2013.

Christmas Eve was the busiest retail day with $100.2 million spent. Boxing Day turnover was $58.8 million.

The owner of the Chelsea House Bed and Breakfast in Whangarei, Diane Houghton, said the B&B had enjoyed a much higher volume of visitors to Northland than in previous years. "We were busier than last year over December particularly from the 27th through to the 30th.

"We weren't actually expecting it to be quite as busy but were happy that it was," she said.

"There were a lot of people coming prior to Christmas, as well, which is different from previous years and that is probably because they are trying to avoid the busy tourist time."

Across the country, cardholders broke records in December 2014, spending more than $5.3 billion during the busiest month of the year - a 5.4 per cent increase on 2013.

This amounted to an extra $300 million in the tills.

Christmas Eve 2014 was the Paymark network's biggest day with $263.5 million in Eftpos transactions, a 10.5 per cent increase.

Otago and Nelson recorded the highest growth rates throughout the country with increases of 8.5 per cent and 8.2 per cent respectively.

Other strong regions were Auckland/Northland and the Bay of Plenty with a 5.9 per cent increase in spending for both. New Zealanders swiped away $2.1 billion in Auckland/Northland and $358 million in the Bay of Plenty.

Some of the largest gains on 2013 were in accommodation (up 11.8 per cent) and food and beverage (up 10 per cent).

Paymark head of customer relations Mark Spicer said the increase in these two sectors was due to booming tourism. It was a strong year for tourism in New Zealand and all regions were likely to be reaping the benefits of an increase in overseas visitors.

"Early in December, New Zealand won the 'top country' category in the 2014 Telegraph Travel Awards for the third year in a row. That accolade is likely to be having some influence on spending in certain areas and sectors.

"Overall, New Zealand is also in a really good position in terms of its economy and consumers are clearly a lot more comfortable out there spending and they have the cash to spend."