More growl than roar in Lions wallets
Spending on hospitality in Christchurch surged last weekend by more than $600,000, or 12 per cent, when the Lions played the Crusaders.
More than 2000 Lions supporters were estimated to have visited, cramming central city bars and restaurants, but hotels and motels reported quieter trading.
Dux Central manager Ross Herrick said the bars enjoyed a very good night and there were many queues outside restaurants and bars in St Asaph St.
‘‘We put up an extra screen and the whole atmosphere was buzzing with people coming and going, with plenty of jubilant and friendly English people.’’
A waitress at a restaurant in New Regent St said she had never seen so many cauliflower ears.
But hotel accommodation providers were less frantic than they would have liked.
Michael Patterson, whose family owns the Commodore Hotel and is a regional chairman of Tourism Industry Aotearoa, said it was a good weekend but not at capacity. He said the city needed a convention centre and stadium to boost visitor numbers.
‘‘We’ll have 700 new hotel rooms this year and room rates and occupancy have been stagnant over the past three years while Auckland, Queenstown and Wellington hotels have seen growth.’’
The local hotel and motel sector was concerned about a squeeze without events and attractions, Patterson said.
A motel owner who preferred to remain unnamed said last weekend was a non-event as far as she was concerned.
Peter Morrison from Hospitality NZ confirmed that while bars and restaurants had enjoyed a surge in trading, most motels and hotels had not.
Paymark spokesman Paul Brislen said between 75 per cent and 90 per cent of spending was believed to be captured by the company through eftpos terminals.
The balance of any spending would have been direct bank-tobank transfers, cash, and cheques.
The extra spending through Paymark was mainly at cafes, restaurants, pubs, bars and clubs from about 11am on Saturday to the early hours of Sunday.
On Sunday, the bias shifted to accommodation providers, where spending on the day was up 17.2 per cent, primarily before 11am.
A similar effect is expected for other Lions games, Brislen said.