MBIE has released the Tourism and Evidence Insights updates from April 2023 and it shows that tourism card spend figures in April 2023 continued to surpass pre-COVID April 2019 levels for both domestic and international markets.
This is possibly due to people spending more money on tourism related things like restaurants, tours, hotels compared to April 2019. This could also be the impact of pent- up demand of travel and favourable exchange rates.
Domestic spend still saw growth from pre-COVID levels, up 14 per cent from April 2019 levels however in regions like the Coromandel, spending has slowed (down 9 per cent) most likely due to adverse weather and likely due to road access issues and consumer perceptions.
The rise in domestic spend relative to pre-COVID levels however has been consistent over the past three months.
International card spending compared to pre-COVID has strongly grown. This has resulted in an increase of four per cent in February 2023 to 25 per cent in April 2023. This has been a result of international visitors spending, in particular Australia and The United States as two top international card spenders. The latter more likely due, again, to the favourable exchange rate and pent-up travel demand.
Monthly Australian spend still down from pre-COVID levels. The top international card spender was Australia, followed by the USA. Australian spend relative to pre-COVID levels has been decreasing over the past three months due to a stronger NZD, from a six per cent fall in February 2023 to a 20 per cent fall in April 2023.
In contrast, USA spend relative to pre-COVID levels has been increasing, from 19 per cent growth in February 2023 to 34 per cent growth in April 2023. These changes can likely be attributed to favourable exchange rates for the USD.
International guest nights are now becoming closer to pre-COVID levels, while domestic guest nights’ growth has slowed down due to rising costs and the impacts of adverse weather events like Cyclone Gabrielle. Despite this, total guest nights are recovering from the Cyclone Gabrielle and are also close to getting back to pre-COVID levels.
At regional levels, accommodation figures have been impacted by the cyclone and regions like the Hawke’s Bay continue to recover. Regions like Auckland (up 80,000) Bay of Plenty (up 37,000) and Clutha in the Otago region, having doubled, have remained strong and are nearing pre-COVID levels again. Regions like Queenstown and Lake Taupo accommodation figures continue to be strong with near full capacity.
Nationwide, main tourism accommodation providers hosted 3.4 million guest nights.
Of these accommodation providers, motels and apartments have resulted in higher visitor figures (73 per cent occupancy) alongside backpacker hostels. The latter shows figures have doubled compared to pre pandemic levels (70 per cent occupancy).
This is possibly due to the higher number of international visitors, and travellers preferring budget friendly options, compared to April 2019. Total guest nights still continue to recover from the cyclone over the past three months, with gaps to pre-COVID levels reducing from 12 per cent in February 2023 to five per cent in April 2023.
Domestic guest nights still up, international guest nights still down, despite the increase of international visitors and is still recovering from pre-COVID levels.
Domestic guest nights totalled 2.4 million (70 per cent of total guest nights). These were up 13 per cent from April 2019 levels. The growth in domestic guest nights compared to pre-COVID levels has been slowing down over the past seven months due to a combination of rising costs, natural disasters, and adverse weather.
This has affected regions like the Hawke’s Bay which experienced the sharpest decline (down 42 per cent) from pre-COVID levels.
However, international guest nights have been increasing slowly and these April 2023 figures show a 70 per cent increase of international guest nights compared to April 2019.
