Tourist boom drives up accommodation costs
THE booming tourism sector has helped drive Auckland’s average hotel room rate to $197 per night, up 9% on the previous year’s, according new data.
Online accommodation website Hotel.com said its hotel price index showed the average price paid per night for a room by international holidaymakers increased by 2% to $176 per night in 2016.
The rise follows another recordbreaking year for tourism in New Zealand in 2016, as international visitor numbers came close to 3.5 million.
Auckland was the most popular destination for international travellers, followed by Queenstown, where yearonyear prices rose 13% to an average of $273 a night.
Christchurch and Wellington were the third and fourth most popular.
Picton reported the steepest fall in price of the top 20 destinations, dropping by 10% to $140 per night in 2016.
Christchurch also declined in the price paid per night by visiting guests — most probably due to ongoing earthquake and rebuild issues — down 5%, it said.
In Hamilton, the most affordable New Zealand destination among the top 20 analysed for international travellers, a hotel room cost on average $136 per night in 2016.
Hotels.com brand marketing manager, Australia and New Zealand, David Spasovic, said the rising value of the New Zealand dollar had not deterred tourists and he expected the trend to continue.
‘‘The year ahead looks strong with increased air routes opening up New Zealand to more corners of the globe, and its role as cohost for major sporting events like the Rugby League World Cup and LPGA golf tour,’’ he said.
In outbound tourism, Britain’s vote last June to leave the European Union helped to reinforce London as a favourite destination for Kiwis.
After June, New Zealand travellers paid 15% less to stay there in 2016, probably because the British pound plummeted to its lowest level in more than 30 years and the kiwi has been buying close to 53p — the best exchange rate in three years.
Australia and the United States were respectively the first and secondmost popular countries for Kiwi travellers in 2016, despite a majority of the destination cities’ room rates rising in price.
Of the 13 least affordable cities reported in the Hotels.com data, 11 were in the United States.
Santa Monica made Kiwis feel the pinch at $486 on average a night, followed by Lahaina, in Hawaii, ($439), Boston ($368) and New York ($364).
The Turkish city of Istanbul, which was rocked by terror attacks and an attempted military coup in 2016, topped the list of European destinations sliding most in price, with a fall of 27%, where a room could set travellers back just $106 a night, Hotels.Com said.
New Zealanders also had more money in their back pockets in Zurich, where the average price paid for a room fell by 18% to $287 a night, it said.