Summer ends with drop in guest nights

Tourism businesses are likely to assess their future now, as the summer season ends, says Nelson Tasman Tourism chief executive Paul Davis.

The latest Tourism Monitor, surveying accommodation, shows a downturn in the number of guest nights in the region during February, a prime tourism month, but not as bad as some had predicted.

Tourism operators can also take heart from the fact that the region fared better than the national result.

Locally, guest accommodation nights were down 6 per cent from February last year to February this year, but that decline was not as sharp as the national drop of 7.6 per cent.

Mr Davis said the drop was not unexpected and was part of a national downturn.

Nelson did quite well attracting international visitors, with international guests nights down 4.1 per cent, compared with a 12.7 per cent decline nationally.

However, Nelson suffered a bigger fall in domestic tourism, with guest nights spent in Nelson by New Zealanders down 7.5 per cent, compared with a national average decline of 2.3 per cent.

Mr Davis attributed this to the level of business travel.

February was the big international month for many tourism operators, when they made a significant part of their money, he said.

Nelson area motels had only a slight drop of 1.8 per cent, while hotels suffered a 5 per cent drop, but the biggest decline was in hosted accommodation, which fell 16.2 per cent.

Mr Davis said that once the off-season started after Easter, some businesses would reassess their operations.

Anecdotal feedback showed that the bottom end of the market backpacker hostels and campgrounds was more resilient, and some had done well, he said.

"The assumption is that people have traded down and taken a different type of holiday this year."

For tourism businesses, it was a matter of hanging in there and keeping their profile high, Mr Davis said.

"This is not a time to stop marketing the region and not keep your profile up.

"Otherwise, you become invisible, and that's a self-fulfilling prophecy."

On the positive side, the downturn was nowhere nearly as bad as had originally been predicted, he said.

"The question now is how long it goes and how deep it goes."

AT A GLANCE GUEST NIGHTS

February 2008 to February 2009 In Nelson: down 6 per cent. Nationally: down 7.6 per cent. New Zealanders staying in Nelson: down 7.5 per cent. International visitors staying in Nelson: down 4.1 per cent.

Source: Tourism Monitor

- © Fairfax NZ News