Ruapehu visitor boom great news for accommodation sector

Ruapehu accommodation providers have had a good year according to the latest guest night statistics from the Commercial Accommodation Monitor.

Figures for the year ended June 2017 show total guest nights rose 5.3 per cent to 466,557 with international guest nights rising 10.6 per cent to 175,816 and domestic guest nights rising 2.3 per cent to 290,740.

The average length of stay fell slightly from 1.70 nights to 1.68 nights however, the overall occupancy rate rose from 29.3 percent to 32.1 percent.

Ruapehu District Council economic development manager Warren Furner said that the CAM compiled by Statistics NZ provides one of the key benchmarks for how well the tourism and visitor sector is doing.

"Likewise, because of the relative importance of tourism and visitor services to Ruapehu the commercial guest night statistics are one of the key indicators for the strength of the local economy," he said.

"As the CAM doesn't capture hosted accommodation such as private hotels, bed and breakfasts, hostels, Bookabach, AirBnB or farm stays, etc, the actual guest nights spent in Ruapehu would have been much higher."

Mr Furner said that the CAM data provided supporting evidence that council's investment into economic development activities such as destination promotion through Visit Ruapehu (VR) was worthwhile.

"Excitingly we know from research undertaken by VR that the pro-active marketing of Ruapehu as a destination can provide even bigger opportunities for local accommodation providers to gain an even bigger share of the national growing visitor and tourism market."

"This highlighted that once people knew about the experiences on offer in Ruapehu their propensity for coming to the district on holiday doubled from 14 per cent to 28 per cent."

Mr Furner added that comparing the month of June 2017 result against month of June 2016 showed the impact of how large international sporting tours and Ruapehu Alpine Lifts (RAL) investment strategy flowed through to the local economy.

"The June month on month comparison for 2016 and 2017 showed that guest nights rose 22.9 per cent with international guest nights contributing 37.6 per cent and domestic guest nights rising 17.3 per cent.

"This result reflects the Lions Rugby Tour and the early opening of Whakapapa Ski area on 3 June this year which was made possible by RAL's investment in new snow making technology.

"Local businesses and potential investors wanting Ruapehu economic information should see council's website ruapehudc.govt.nz where in addition to the CAM data they can get retail spending activity, Marketview reports and other research."