More visitors hit town - with deeper pockets

Tourism is up in Rotorua.

Rotorua visitor numbers were up in June with a strong growth in international visitors, especially in Chinese, North American and Japanese markets - and the good news is those visiting the city appear to be spending more.

Rotorua guest nights were up 13.7 per cent this June on last to 109,126, according to Statistics New Zealand.

Statistics New Zealand collects data for guests staying in hotels, motels, backpacker accommodation and holiday parks in New Zealand each month. A guest night refers to one guest spending one night in an establishment.

Skyline Rotorua assistant manager Andrew Jensen said things were going well for the business, which had experienced growth in domestic visitors. International numbers were also bouncing back, he said.

He thought the Famously Rotorua campaign was helping drive growth. Famously Rotorua is a three-year campaign aimed at showcasing the diversity Rotorua has to offer the domestic market.

Mr Jensen said visitors were keen to experience Skyline Rotorua's "whole suite" of activities including the gondola, luge, stratosphere, zipline and swing.

He said the outlook for the coming spring and summer was positive and bookings had been steady.

The Chinese market led the growth in visits to Rotorua's attractions and activities for June with 27,600 visits, an increase of 6600 or 31 per cent over the same period last year. The North American and Japanese markets also showed good growth with visits increasing 1700 and 1000 respectively.

For the same period, the value of electronic card purchases in Rotorua by international visitors increased 41 per cent (11 per cent nationally), with the strongest percentage growth, 184 per cent, occurring in the "non-tourism" category of spending (17 per cent nationally).

Destination Rotorua general manager Oscar Nathan said it was fantastic to see Rotorua tourism operators enjoying such positive results, reinforcing Rotorua's position as a "must do" destination on international visitor itineraries.

"Not only are international visitors ticking off their bucket lists, but the expenditure statistics also indicate they're spreading their dollars around our community, and in a variety of local businesses," Mr Nathan said.

Rotorua's international visitors led the way in commercial accommodation growth with a 27 per cent increase in visitor nights, but Rotorua's domestic market also performed well with a 6 per cent increase in visitor nights.