Rugby World Cup has helped Rotorua

An 11.2 per cent rise in commercial accommodation nights in August is being hailed as excellent news, but Destination Rotorua Marketing's Tania Bui is wary of getting too excited too soon.

"There is some really good stuff [in the August figures], particularly after the past few months, but we have to remember that the last week of August was the first week of the international visitor arrivals for the Rugby World Cup."

Bui said the industry was pleased about the business coming out of the rugby tournament, but was really looking for some longer-term indicators that tourist flows were returning to normal after the Christchurch earthquakes.

She said it would be some months before the effects of the World Cup would clear sufficiently to see any such trends.

"As long as Christchurch continues to shake and make the international news, there will be a huge section of international people thinking of coming this way who do not understand how isolated the quakes are to Christchurch."

International visitor nights were up 1.2 per cent against a national benchmark of -1 per cent. Coromandel was the only other resort regional tourism organisation to report a rise in international visitors during August.

The overall rise was driven by an 18 per cent increase in domestic nights and Bui suggested this was largely because of conferences and similar events that were advanced to avoid the Rugby World Cup period.

"We probably have benefited from domestic activity being brought forward - that has happened nationally. But the key thing for us is around getting some good visitor flows back."

She is, however, looking forward to the September accommodation statistics to see what benefits the Cup has brought to Rotorua in its own right.

"Tourism New Zealand is saying a far higher proportion than first forecast arrived with just tickets and a rental car booked. When the September and October figures are out, we will know a lot more."

Bui is not expecting it to be all good news because of some tour groups avoiding New Zealand during the tournament and the effect of moving the school holidays on the domestic numbers.

She said the Rena oil spill off the Port of Tauranga had not yet affected cruise numbers and Rotorua would continue promoting Rotorua excursions through Auckland and Tauranga.

"The shipping lanes are clear and Bay of Plenty Tourism is trying to manage the situation. There has been no rerouting of cruise ships planned. That could all change day by day, but for us, it is business as usual and we need to get some positive messages out there."