Queenstown prices plummet

It just got a lot cheaper to visit Queenstown, with hotel prices falling by 35 percent.

Queenstown had the third biggest drop in city hotel prices in the world in the three months to Christmas, according to hotels.com Hotel Price Index.

The index looked at hotel prices for October to December, 2008, compared to the same period the year before.

It revealed hotel prices fell 41 percent in Mumbai, 36 percent Reykjavik, 35 percent in Queenstown, 32 percent in Manila, and 31 percent in Las Vegas.

The website's president, David Roche, said hoteliers were being forced to lower their prices in order to fill rooms.

"This year really will be the year of the deal."

The website found hotel prices fell 12 percent globally, in 2008.

On average prices were 1 percent higher than they were five years ago.

Prices in North America had the greatest decline, falling 12 per cent, while Europe shed 10 percent.

Caribbean and South American hotels dropped 7 percent in the final quarter of 2008.

The index tracked the rates paid per hotel room rather than advertised rates, and was based on prices paid by customers at 68,000 hotels across 12,500 locations, hotels.com said.

- AAP