Rotorua event popularity boosts accommodation business in May
20 July 2013
The growing popularity of events such as the Rotorua Marathon has resulted in strong growth in visitor nights for the district during the month of May, up 20.2 per cent on the same time last year.
Statistics New Zealand's May 2013 Commercial Accommodation Monitor released this month, shows the total number of domestic and international visitors who spent a night in commercial accommodation across New Zealand in May rose 8 per cent compared to May 2012, representing an increase of 150,936 guest nights.
The national growth was driven by a combination of New Zealand domestic holidays falling partly in May this year versus entirely in April last year and also to an 8.7 per cent increase in international visitor arrivals to New Zealand on the same time last year.
Rotorua blitzed the national increase with guest nights rising by 20.2 per cent for the same period, representing an increase of 19,571 guest nights.
Destination Rotorua Marketing general manager Oscar Nathan says entrants and supporters of events like the Rotorua Marathon, Cat Eye Moonride and the Targa Rotorua Rally were instrumental in the result.
By comparison Canterbury and Wellington grew by 15.1 per cent each, Auckland by 8.6 per cent, Queenstown by 7.8 per cent and Dunedin by just 1.6 per cent.
Rotorua also performed well against the neighbouring central North Island regions of Coromandel up 7.9 per cent, Hawkes Bay up 5.8 per cent, Taupo up 4.1 per cent, Bay of Plenty down 4.9 per cent, and Waikato down 8.7 per cent.
Nathan says the Commercial Accommodation Monitor is a vital benchmark of how Rotorua is doing on a national level.
May's results highlight a lot of positives for Rotorua. We've done really well in terms of increasing visitor numbers during what is usually a quieter time of year, and we're continuing to see growth in both our domestic and international markets.
Domestic guest nights in Rotorua rose by 24.9 per cent, alongside international guest nights which rose by 14.2 per cent.
Rotorua's tourism leaders will take great heart from the latest statistics, and will continue to focus on effective ways of marketing their businesses and the region as a whole says Nathan.
These results are really encouraging and are an initial sign our Famously Rotorua' campaign, which launched late last year, is starting to pay dividends.