Recession lets Queenstown hotels off lightly

Queenstown hotels contributed $52 million to the region's economy last year, the resort's tourism industry representatives were told at the New Zealand Hotel Council's annual operating survey presentation yesterday.

Queenstown's 20 New Zealand Hotel Council member properties generated $97 million in revenue last year, from a total of 2300 rooms, and employed 1200 people.

Council independent chair Jennie Langley said of the $52m retained locally, $28.5m was spent on wages, $7.4m on food and beverage, $7.6m on room expenses, $4.9m on utilities and waste, $3.3m on sales and marketing and $1.5m on rates and insurance.

Ms Langley said New Zealanders accounted for 37.6 per cent of all rooms sold in Queenstown, followed by Australians at 26.9 per cent.

Hoteliers around the country had been challenged by fewer international arrivals, increased last-minute bookings and the outbreak of swine flu forcing cancellations.

However, the horizon looked much brighter, especially with the Rugby World Cup, an opportunity that should be maximised next year, she said.

Economic researcher Shane Vuletich, of Covec, said although the recession had meant yields were down with fewer "high rollers" into New Zealand hotels last year, Queenstown had fared extremely well with 106,000 more Australians visiting.

Australians bought 27 per cent of hotel room nights last year – they bought 19 per cent elsewhere in New Zealand.

This had offset the drop in some traditional long haul markets, he said. Queenstown had done proportionately better attracting international tourists than elsewhere in New Zealand.

Free independent travellers (FITs) accounted for about 58 per cent of Quenstown room nights, injecting $32,000 a room a yearinto the economy which was "pretty significant", Mr Vuletich said.

"Queenstown does it well, more efficiently, you seem to get more out of your workers than some other regions, I am not suggesting you underpay, you're just more efficient," he said.

Queenstown had got away "pretty lightly" compared with the rest of the country and appeared to have emerged from the recession more quickly.

Hotel rates were likely to return to normal levels and "confidence bodes well over the next year for Queenstown", Mr Vuletich said.

ROOM AT THE INN

Queenstown hotels had come through a difficult year better than most, achieving: 5th highest annual occupancy rate in NZ at 63 per cent; 4th out of eight NZ regions for average room rate at $132.70; Average room rate equalled 3.3 per cent less than 2008, but national drop was 5.7 per cent

- © Fairfax NZ News