More beat track to Wanganui

UPTURN: More visitors are coming to Wanganui - and they are staying longer.PHOTO/FILE VISITORS

More visitors have been coming to Wanganui in recent months and staying a little bit longer than usual, according to latest data supplied by Visit Whanganui.

The latest figures from the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment show there were a total of 12,613 guest nights in September compared to 11,557 guest nights in the same month last year.

Guest night is described as the equivalent to one guest spending one night at local accommodation. If a motel has 15 guests spending two nights, it would report 30 guest nights.

The length of stay increased slightly too, up to 1.86 nights this September against 1.72 nights in September, 2013.

Visit Whanganui promotion and marketing manager Lyn Cheyne said those increases were reflected in an improved occupancy rate for the same month.

They also helped lift the annual guest night figure for the first nine months of 2014, which saw a total of 174,828 guest nights compared to the 167,093 guest nights of the previous year.

Ms Cheyne said it all added up to increasing visitor numbers, with more domestic visitors to the city, who stayed longer.

She said she preferred to look at the longer term trends, "as monthly statistics can jump due to isolated occurrences".

But she said the good news was they were encouraging results for what had usually been the slowest time of the year for Wanganui's accommodation industry.

"These are really encouraging results and bode well for an excellent summer," she said.

Ms Cheyne said a winter campaign running in the lower North Island for July, August and September had finished and had raised the level of interest in Wanganui as a holiday and short-break destination.

"Conferences and events continue to come to the city, adding to the positive numbers. Journalists from travel magazines have visited, and the resultant stories and articles are due to be published over the summer period.

"We're also continuing to provide press releases and stories to targeted media, which has resulted in these visits and increasing requests for information and images to support published content around things to do in Wanganui," she said.

Ms Cheyne said it was a credit to those tourism and accommodation operators who had helped Visit Whanganui hosting the media visitors.

"I've seen some of the articles due to be published and the writers have certainly taken a new look at everything Wanganui has to offer."

She said summer marketing plans for the region were around the upcoming events in January, February and March, and would have a greater online focus.

Visit Whanganui chairman Eric Dorfman agreed about the importance of looking at long-term trends.

"I'm heartened to see the continued improvement," Dr Dorfman said.

"Lyn and her team are doing excellent work, partnering with local providers to promote Wanganui as a visitor destination," he said.