Foreign tourists shelter South Island tourism

Friday 10th July 2009

South Island tourism operators are being shielded from the recession by continuing growth in international visitor nights spent in Te Wai Pounamo.

South Island international visitor nights were up 5% in May this year, compared with May 2008, before the credit crunch hit global consumer demand later in the year, according to the monthly Accommodation Survey, prepared by Statistics New Zealand, the government agency.

That helped push total South Island visitor nights up by 2%, despite a nationwide fall in domestic visitor nights of 1%, compared with the same month a year ago.

North Island international visitor nights fell by 6%, possibly reflecting a very large decline in business travel recorded in international arrival statistics separately reported. This might be expected to affect Auckland and Wellington accommodation demand.

Businesswire.co.nz

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