Visitor bed nights continue to tumble

Hawke's Bay accommodation guest night numbers continue to fall, with March figures from Statistics New Zealand showing a 4.1 per cent fall compared with March 2011, which was itself a 9.2 per cent fall on 2010.

General manager of Hawke's Bay Tourism, Annie Dundas, said Easter falling in April and the poor summer weather had not helped all regions in New Zealand.

But while accommodation statistics were down, she said some parts of the Hawke's Bay tourist industry were strong.

"Horse of the Year happened in March and delivered a huge number of visitors, but many stay on site so therefore not all reflected in Commercial Accommodation Monitor statistics.

"They still spend money and are of huge economic benefit to the region.

"Hawke's Bay again saw large numbers of cruise passengers in March."

She said there was still a tough economic environment and "we have a lot of work to do".

"We are working hard to grow numbers, the recent work in Australia around the $179 airfare with our regional partners Wellington has hit and the recent Masterchef [TV] episodes in Hawke's Bay all help to build our profile. The implementation of the events strategy is also a major initiative and will help to drive visitors across the year."

Nationally, guest nights fell 0.8 per cent to 3.1 million for March.

International guest nights fell 4.4 per cent in the South Island and 2.8 per cent in the North Island.

Domestic guest nights rose 2.2 per cent in the North Island but there was little change in the South Island.

In Hawke's Bay, international guest nights fell 5.3 per cent and domestic guest nights fell 3.5 per cent.

Bay of Plenty and Northland had the largest falls in regional guest nights and Auckland the largest rise - up 6.5 per cent from 2011, which was up 8.1 per cent on 2010.