Record levels of visitors to Auckland this summer

Visitors enjoying Auckland’s Golden Summer help fill hotels to record levels

Auckland’s golden summer of unprecedented globally recognised events helped to push hotel occupancy rates to record levels and furthermore, visitors are staying longer.

Domestic and international visitors to Auckland increased the hotel occupancy rate to 83 per cent for the year ending February 2015. In February 2015 alone, the occupancy rate reached 93.5 per cent.

Annual domestic guest nights for the year ending February increased by 7 per cent compared to the corresponding year prior, with annual international guest nights up 0.9 per cent.

“Auckland has been the place to be this summer with our strong visitor proposition and busy calendar of globally recognised events,” Auckland Tourism, Events and Economic Development (ATEED) Chief Executive Brett O’Riley says.

“An additional 77,000 hotel rooms were sold in the year ending February 2015 compared to the corresponding period. These additional rooms, coupled with an increase in hotel room rates, resulted in $27.9 million more spent on Auckland hotel rooms compared to last year,” he says.

“Auckland already experiences the most domestic visitation of any other region in the country and this is the first time ever where Auckland has reached over 4 million domestic annual guest nights. It’s also the first time Auckland has reached 3 million annual international guest nights,” Brett O’Riley says.

Average daily room rates have also increased. In the month of February 2015, rates reached $188.10 compared to $164.59 in February 2014. Average daily room rates for the year to date ending February 2015 put the rate at $150.53, compared to $142.35 the year prior.

Not only are hotel occupancy rates at record levels, but visitors are also staying longer with the average length of stay up 4.4 per cent to 2.12 nights for the year ending February 2015 compared to the year prior.

“ATEED’s non-stop summer domestic tourism campaign in market between November 2014 and February this year worked hard to leverage our unprecedented events calendar and showcase our many tourist attractions,” Brett O’Riley says.

“It’s interesting to note that hotel occupancy rates are continuing to rise despite more hotels being built over the years which shows Auckland’s strong and consistently growing visitor economy,” he says.

Auckland achieved the significant milestone of reaching more than two million international arrivals at Auckland Airport to the year ending December. Latest results from Statistic New Zealand for the year ending February show International arrivals to Auckland airport reached 2,063,360. That’s up 5 per cent on the corresponding year prior.

The Auckland Visitor Plan – created on behalf of Auckland Council – aims to grow the region’s visitor economy from a $4.8 billion industry in 2012 to a $7.2 billion sector in 2021. Integral to this is to grow annual domestic tourism receipts from $2.37 billion in 2012 to $3 billion in 2021.

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