Tourism surge spurs hotel price rises
A return of tourists to the country over the past year has seen the average price of a night in a hotel rise to $157 a person.
Data from accommodation booking website Hotels.com showed New Zealand hotel room prices increased 7 per cent in the first six months of this year, compared to the same period in 2013.
This was above the global benchmark, which rose 4 per cent.
Nearly all New Zealand destinations measured by the Hotel Price Index showed an increase in prices; only Hamilton and Invercargill showed decreases.
Wellington hotel rooms were an average $148 a night, up 7 per cent.
The index found prices rose because of an increase in visitor numbers to the country following a year-long slump in tourists caused by the natural disasters in Christchurch in 2011 and 2012.
Hotels.com Asia Pacific vice-president and managing director Abhiram Chowdhry said the hotel market was boosted by continued interest from Chinese travellers.
‘‘The New Zealand tourism industry has continued to rebound following the
Chinese visitor arrivals have helped boost tourism figures. spate of natural disasters since 2011 and has gone from strength to strength in the last three years.
‘‘Increased visitor numbers to the region means hoteliers are well poised to enjoy continued growth.’’
In July, 196,900 people visited the country – the highest ever for the month of July. Statistics New Zealand said in the year to July, 2.8 million visitor arrivals were recorded, up 6 per cent on the year before.
The country’s top four sources of visitors were Australia, China, the United States, and the United Kingdom.
Statistics NZ population statistics manager Susan Hollows said more visitors from Indonesia, Australia and China had boosted numbers for the July record.
But hotels and motels had a quiet June, statistics showed, with guest nights down 4.4 per cent in the month, more than reversing a small gain in May.
Domestic guest nights fell 8.1 per cent in June, while international guest nights were down 2.3 per cent, after adjusting for the winter slowdown.
Within the sub-sectors in June, hotel guest nights fell 2.8 per cent.
The worst fall was seen in the motel sector.
Guest nights were down 7.8 per cent in the month on a seasonally adjusted basis.