Events like Raggamuffin boost domestic visitors

An 18.8 per cent jump in domestic visitor nights during February has illustrated the importance of events to Rotorua's accommodation sector.

Destination Rotorua Tourism Marketing general manager Don Gunn pointed to the estimated $9.3 million contribution to the local economy made by attendees at the Raggamuffin reggae festival on February 5 as an example.

"I think a lot of that 18.8 per cent was based around Raggamuffin, which shows the impact of getting good events can have on our domestic market."

Raggamuffin was held on January 23last year when domestic visitor nights in the city were 2.7 per cent higher than in January this year and 5.8 per cent up on 2009.

"The encouraging thing about this event is that people are staying in commercial accommodation and are spending in our economy."

Gunn expected to see a similar increase when Rotorua hosts the Te Matatini o Te Ra kapa haka national competition next year.

"That will be another great situation, with people coming from all over the country."

Higher domestic nights proved good news for motels - the only accommodation sector to see a rise in February. Motel nights were up 8 per cent, while the Rotorua's overall visitor nights held steady on 165,660 - just 0.1 per cent down.

Gunn said the effect of the Christchurch earthquake on February 22 had been minimal on February statistics as it occurred so late in the month, but he expected it would show up in March results. February also saw continued growth in the Chinese, Korean and Japanese markets, but Gunn said Japanese visitor numbers would suffer a double hit in March with the combined effects of the earthquakes here and in Sendai. But he was still optimistic.

"There are good buyers coming to Trenz [tourism industry expo] this month - including some very senior people from the Japan market, who will be coming to Rotorua before the expo in Queenstown."