Growth in visitors, spending

Kahu-Tarena Maxwell, 2, joined the pohiri to welcome visitors to the opening of Trenz.

Rotorua's tourism sector had a great summer with new statistics revealing the city is streets ahead of national tourism averages.

The news came as Rotorua prepared to host more than 1100 delegates from around the world for Trenz 2015. The prestigious event, which opened last night and runs until Wednesday, is an opportunity for tourism operators from around New Zealand to meet with influential tourism buyers and media.

Rotorua commercial accommodation statistics reveal visitor nights for March were up 19 per cent on the same month last year, exceeding the 8 per cent increase experienced nationally.

Rotorua's domestic visitor nights were up 21 per cent - compared to a 5 per cent increase nationally, to 90,800 nights and international nights were up 17 per cent - compared to an 11 per cent increase nationally, to 99,900 nights.

All of Rotorua's commercial accommodation providers experienced double digit growth and exceeded their national sector benchmarks for March 2015.

Hotels saw the greatest growth in visitor nights with a 21 per cent increase, versus a 7 per cent increase in hotels nationally.

The March statistics build on increases in visitor nights for both January and February, when compared to the same months in previous years.

In addition to increasing visitor nights, visitor spending in Rotorua was also up.

International electronic card purchases were up 137 per cent on March last year, compared to a national increase of 22 per cent.

Domestic electronic card purchases were also up, with growth being led by the categories of "non-tourism related" - up 55 per cent versus 21 per cent nationally, and "food and beverage" - up 35 per cent versus 2 per cent nationally. Food-related credit card spend was also well up on the national average of 16 per cent with Rotorua seeing an increase of 27 per cent.

Destination Rotorua general manager Oscar Nathan said large entourages from the United States visiting Rotorua during March for the Crankworx festival and the filming of Pete's Dragon were likely drivers of a 72 per cent growth rate (compared to March last year) in US electronic card purchases at Rotorua businesses and far exceeded the 18 per cent increase in US purchases nationally. "It's great to see visitor expenditure not being concentrated solely with the tourism industry, but being spread throughout the Rotorua economy," Mr Nathan said.

Rotorua mayor Steve Chadwick said strong results for Rotorua's visitor sector were further evidence of the district's progress.

"Rotorua has been reinventing and freshening itself and part of that is to ensure a strong and vibrant tourism offering which we're very pleased to be sharing with tourism influencers here for Trenz."

Rotorua Top 10 Holiday Park owner Jared Adams said there seemed to be a resurgence in families visiting holiday parks.

"March was a great month, but it isn't just March, we've seen an increase all year. This year we have seen a 46 per cent increase in domestic visitors to our holiday park."

Mr Adams said a lot of families stayed at the holiday park during Crankworx and biked to Skyline Rotorua and back to watch events.

Motel association chairman and Pohutu Lodge owner Barry Mabey said March was a great month for Rotorua's accommodation industry.

"Everyone had sustained visitors throughout the month."

International visitors to Rotorua's attraction and activities sites were up 14 per cent to 188,100 visits.

Similarly, domestic visitors to attractions and activities were up 18 per cent to 56,200 visits.