The service sector
Encompasses the wholesale and retail trade, accommodation, cafes and restaurants, transport and storage, communication services, finance and insurance, property and business services, health and community services and also cultural, recreational and personal services. Represents about twothirds of the economy. significant increase in preparation for the peak summer season.’’
Otago guest nights in October rose by 7.6% on a year ago to 473,000, second only to Auckland’s 644,000 guest nights, according to separate data from Statistics New Zealand yesterday.
Nationally, total guest nights reached record levels at 40.2 million for the year to October, up 2.6% from a year ago.
Hotels, motels, and holiday parks recorded increases of 3.9%, 0.8% and 5.8% respectively.
However, in the Queenstown Lakes district the high cost of living and accommodation availability continued to be a concern, Mrs Nicholls said. The area was one of the least affordable in the country and median house prices were up 14.5% to $985,000 on a year ago.
She said unseasonably wet weather in November also took its toll and was an issue for some tourist operators.
BusinessNZ chief executive Kirk Hope said the lower national activity levels were due to several factors.
While the subindex of employment was at its highest since December 2017, activity/sales returned to levels last experienced in February and stock/ inventories dropped back to levels last seen in April 2017.
While new orders/business still remained ‘‘in healthy territory’’, supplier deliveries went into contraction at 48.5 points, the first time in the past five months a subindex had produced a negative result.
‘‘Christmas is playing a large part in activity, although there’s also a number of comments around the endofyear rush to complete projects,’’ Mr Kirk said.
PreChristmas spending across Otago for the second week of December rose 3.1% on a year ago to $69.4 million, while nationally, underlying spending, not including fuel, rose 2.9% to $1.27 billion, according to Paymark card transaction data released yesterday. National spending in the second week rose 6% on the first week.